| Ford Ranges | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of north side of Fosdick Mountains | |
| Geography | |
  | |
| Continent | Antarctica |
| Area | Marie Byrd Land |
| Range coordinates | 77°0′S144°0′W / 77.000°S 144.000°W |
The Ford Ranges ( 77°0′S144°0′W / 77.000°S 144.000°W ) are a collection of mountain groups and ranges standing east of Sulzberger Ice Shelf and Block Bay in the northwest part of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. [1]
The Ford Ranges lie along the coast of Marie Byrd Land to the south and east of the Sulzberger Ice Shelf and to the east of Block Bay. The ranges and major glaciers are, from southwest to northeast, Hershey Ridge, Haines Mountains, Hammond Glacier, Swope Glacier, Mackay Mountains, Boyd Glacier, Sarnoff Mountains, Allegheny Mountains, Clark Mountains, Arthur Glacier, Denfeld Mountains, Crevasse Valley Glacier, Chester Mountains, Fosdick Mountains, Balchen Glacier and Phillips Mountains. [2] [3]
A 1945 report defines the Southern Ford Ranges as the ranges between McKinley Peak and the Balchen Glacier, which excludes the Phillips Mountains. They cover an area of about 7,000 square miles (18,000 km2). This portion of the mountainous coastland of Marie Byrd Land is one of the few areas in Antarctica where there are enough rock outcrops to make it practical to undertake geological mapping. [4] A 1991 report defines the Northern Ford Ranges as including the Phillips, Fosdick and Chester Mountains. The Fosdick Mountains contain high-grade metamorphic rocks, while the Phillips and Chester Mountains have outcroppings of plutonic rocks. The Devonian Ford granodiorite is found in the Phillips, Chester and Denfield Mountains. The Cretaceous Byrd Coast granite is found throughout the Ford Ranges. [5]
The Ford Ranges were discovered by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition (ByrdAE) on December 5, 1929. They were named by Richard E. Byrd for Edsel Ford of the Ford Motor Company, who helped finance the expedition. [1]
The northern mountain ranges and groups are, from north to south
The southern mountain ranges and groups are, from west to east,
The Alexandra Mountains are a group of low, separated mountains in the north portion of Edward VII Peninsula, just southwest of Sulzberger Bay in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
The Wisconsin Range is a major mountain range of the Horlick Mountains in Antarctica, comprising the Wisconsin Plateau and numerous glaciers, ridges and peaks bounded by the Reedy Glacier, Shimizu Ice Stream, Horlick Ice Stream and the interior ice plateau.
The Leverett Glacier is about 50 nautical miles (90 km) long and 3 to 4 nautical miles wide, flowing from the Antarctic Plateau to the south end of the Ross Ice Shelf through the Queen Maud Mountains. It is an important part of the South Pole Traverse from McMurdo Station to the Admundson–Scott South Pole Station, providing a route for tractors to climb from the ice shelf through the Transantarctic Mountains to the polar plateau.
The Herbert Range is a range in the Queen Maud Mountains of Antarctica, extending from the edge of the Antarctic Plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf between the Axel Heiberg Glacier and Strom Glacier. Named by the New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee (NZ-APC) for Walter W. Herbert, leader of the Southern Party of the New Zealand GSAE (1961–62) which explored the Axel Heiberg Glacier area.
The Haines Mountains are a range of ice-capped mountains trending northwest–southeast for about 25 nautical miles and forming the southwest wall of Hammond Glacier, in the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
The Fosdick Mountains are an east–west trending mountain range with marked serrate outlines, standing along the south side of Balchen Glacier at the head of Block Bay, in the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
Sulzberger Bay is a bay indenting the front of the Sulzberger Ice Shelf between Fisher Island and Vollmer Island, along the coast of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
Sulzberger Ice Shelf is an ice shelf about 85 nautical miles long and 50 nautical miles wide bordering the coast of Marie Byrd Land between Edward VII Peninsula and Guest Peninsula in Antarctica.
The Guest Peninsula is a snow-covered peninsula about 45 nautical miles long between the Sulzberger Ice Shelf and Block Bay, in the northwest part of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
The Scott Glacier is a major glacier, 120 nautical miles long, that drains the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the Queen Maud Mountains to the Ross Ice Shelf. The Scott Glacier is one of a series of major glaciers flowing across the Transantarctic Mountains, with the Amundsen Glacier to the west and the Leverett and Reedy glaciers to the east.
The Rockefeller Mountains are a group of low-lying, scattered granite peaks and ridges, almost entirely snow-covered, standing 30 nautical miles south-southwest of the Alexandra Mountains on the Edward VII Peninsula of Antarctica.
Hershey Ridge is a low, ice-covered ridge trending in a northwest–southeast direction for about 30 nautical miles between McKinley Peak and the Haines Mountains, in the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
Block Bay is a long ice-filled bay lying east of Guest Peninsula along the coast of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
Watson Escarpment is a major escarpment in the Queen Maud Mountains, trending northward along the east margin of Scott Glacier, then eastward to Reedy Glacier where it turns southward along the glacier's west side. Somewhat arcuate, the escarpment is nearly 100 nautical miles long, rises 3,550 metres (11,650 ft) above sea level, and 1,000 to 1,500 metres above the adjacent terrain.
The Denfeld Mountains are a group of scattered mountains between Crevasse Valley Glacier and Arthur Glacier in the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
The Phillips Mountains are a range of mountains on the north side of Balchen Glacier and Block Bay in the Ford Ranges, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
The Marshall Archipelago is an extensive group of large ice-covered islands within the Sulzberger Ice Shelf, Antarctica.
Sarnoff Mountains is a range of mountains, 251 nautical miles long and 4 to 8 nautical miles wide separating the west-flowing Boyd Glacier and Arthur Glacier in the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
The La Gorce Mountains are a group of mountains, 20 nautical miles long, standing between the tributary Robison Glacier and Klein Glacier at the east side of the upper reaches of the Scott Glacier, in the Queen Maud Mountains of Antarctica.
The Allegheny Mountains are a small group of mountains 10 nautical miles west of the Clark Mountains in the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Board on Geographic Names. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey .
