Laurens Peninsula

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Laurens Peninsula ( 53°0′S73°18′E / 53.000°S 73.300°E / -53.000; 73.300 ) is a rugged peninsula surmounted by several ice-covered peaks that forms the northwestern part of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. The name was applied by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition following their survey in 1948. It derives from the existing name Cape Laurens, applied for the northwestern extremity of this peninsula after the American bark Laurens which, under Captain Franklin F. Smith, visited Heard Island in 1855–56 and assisted in initiating sealing operations there. [1]

A small hill called Macey Cone sits at the northwest end of the peninsula. It is connected to the main island by the Fidelia Isthmus, although new channels are increasingly separating the two areas. [2]

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Mount Aubert de la Rue is an ice-free hill, 125 metres (410 ft) high, standing at the south end and surmounting the low Fidelia Isthmus that connects Laurens Peninsula with the main mass of Heard Island. It was first charted and named by Edgar Aubert de la Rue, French geologist aboard the whale catcher of the island in January 1929, and later surveyed by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions in 1948.

Atlas Cove is a cove on the north coast of Heard Island and McDonald Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, and is entered between the base of the Laurens Peninsula and Rogers Head.

Gilchrist Aiguilles is a series of sharp peaks close south of Mount Olsen on Laurens Peninsula, Heard Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baudissin Glacier</span> Glacier in Antarctica

Baudissin Glacier is a tidewater glacier on the north side of Heard Island. in the southern Indian Ocean. Located 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) west of Challenger Glacier, Baudissin Glacier is 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) wide and flows into the western part of Corinthian Bay. The terminus of Baudissin Glacier is located at the western side of Corinthian Bay, at Sealers Cove. To the east of Baudissin Glacier is Challenger Glacier, whose terminus is located at the eastern side of Corinthian Bay, close west to Saddle Point. To the south of Baudissin Glacier is Schmidt Glacier, and to the northwest is Atlas Cove. Kildalkey Head is west of Schmidt Glacier. To the south of Schmidt Glacier is Vahsel Glacier, whose terminus is at South West Bay, between Erratic Point and Cape Gazert. Immediately south of Vahsel Glacier is Allison Glacier. Click here to see a map of Baudissin Glacier and the northwestern coast of Heard Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deacock Glacier</span>

Deacock Glacier is a glacier close west of Lavett Bluff on the south side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. Its terminus is between Cape Labuan and Long Beach. To the east of Deacock Glacier is Fiftyone Glacier, whose terminus is located between Lavett Bluff and Lambeth Bluff. To the west of Deacock Glacier is Gotley Glacier, whose terminus is located between Cape Arkona and Cape Labuan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downes Glacier</span>

Downes Glacier is a broad tidewater glacier on the north side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. It flows north on both sides of Cape Bidlingmaier to the north coast of Heard Island. To the east of Downes Glacier is Ealey Glacier, whose terminus is located close southeast of Cape Bidlingmaier. To the west of Downes Glacier is Challenger Glacier, whose terminus is located at the eastern side of Corinthian Bay, close west to Saddle Point. Saddle Point separates Downes Glacier from Challenger Glacier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vahsel Glacier</span>

Vahsel Glacier is a glacier on the northwestern side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. It flows west into South West Bay, between Erratic Point and Cape Gazert. Immediately to the north of Vahsel Glacier is Schmidt Glacier, whose terminus is located between Mount Drygalski and North West Cornice. To the south of Vahsel Glacier is Allison Glacier, whose terminus is located south of Cape Gazert, which separates Allison Glacier from Vahsel Glacier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schmidt Glacier (Heard Island and McDonald Islands)</span>

Schmidt Glacier is a glacier, 0.7 nautical miles (1.3 km) long, flowing west from Baudissin Glacier between Mount Drygalski and North West Cornice, on the west side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. To the north of Schmidt Glacier is Baudissin Glacier, whose terminus is located at the western side of Corinthian Bay, near Sealers Cove. Kildalkey Head is west of Schmidt Glacier. To the south of Schmidt Glacier is Vahsel Glacier, whose terminus is at South West Bay, between Erratic Point and Cape Gazert. Immediately south of Vahsel Glacier is Allison Glacier. Click here to see a map of Schmidt Glacier and the northwestern coast of Heard Island.

Cape Gazert is a cape at the western end of the rocky promontory which forms the south side of South West Bay, on the west side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. This feature was known to American sealers as "Green Point", as shown by Captain H.C. Chester's 1860 sketch map and other sealer maps of the period. The present name was applied by the First German Antarctica Expedition when they landed at the feature in February 1902, after Doctor Hans Gazert, medical officer with the expedition, and it has become established in international usage.

North West Cornice is a narrow rock ridge descending in a northwest direction from Big Ben on Heard Island, and terminating at Schmidt Glacier in the northwest part of the island. Surveyed and given this descriptive name by ANARE in 1948. Click here to see a map of North West Cornice and the northwestern coast of Heard Island.

Erratic Point is a small, moss-covered point at the head of South West Bay, 1.3 nautical miles (2.4 km) northeast of Cape Gazert, on the west side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. The First German Antarctica Expedition in 1902 charted a cape in this vicinity, from the summit of Mount Drygalski, and applied the name "Kap Lerche." In November 1929 the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition under Douglas Mawson charted a small point in this position and applied the name "Erratic Point" because of the large number of massive erratic boulders encountered there. The Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition was unable to find any significant feature in this immediate area during their 1948 survey of the island, hence the name Erratic Point was retained by them for this small point.

Budd Peak is a peak, 2,315 metres (7,600 ft) high, 1.7 nautical miles (3.1 km) southeast of Mawson Peak on Heard Island. The peak was mapped by Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) in 1948, and named by the Antarctic Names Committee of Australia for G.M. Budd, ANARE officer-in-charge on Heard Island in 1954, and leader of the 1963 ANARE Heard Island expedition.

Cave Bay is a 0.3-nautical-mile-wide (0.56 km) cove indenting the west side of Heard Island, an uninhabited Australian overseas territory in the Indian Ocean, between West Bay and South West Bay. The bay was formed by the erosion of an extinct volcanic crater of which Mount Andree forms the north side.

Mount Olsen is a snow-covered peak standing 0.2 nautical miles (0.4 km) east of Hayter Peak on Laurens Peninsula, in the northwest part of Heard Island.

Mount Dixon is a snow-covered stratovolcano, 705 metres (2,310 ft) high, standing 0.7 nautical miles (1.3 km) west of Anzac Peak on the Laurens Peninsula, Heard Island. The feature appears to have been roughly charted on an 1860 sketch map by Captain H.C. Chester, an American sealer operating in the area during this period. It was surveyed in 1948 by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE), and named by them for Lieutenant Commander George M. Dixon, RANVR, commanding officer of HMAS Labuan which landed and relieved the 1948 and 1949 ANARE parties.

Hayter Peak is a peak, 565 meters high, standing 400 meters west of Mount Olsen along the back of the Laurens Peninsula and at the northwest end of Heard Island. The peak was first surveyed in 1948 by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions, and named by them for Alfred J. Hayter, a warrant officer on the expedition ship HMAS Labuan (L3501).

Macey Cone is a small hill, 125 metres (410 ft) high, which marks the remnants of an extinct volcanic cone surmounting the lava cliffs at the northwest end of Laurens Peninsula, about 0.6 nautical miles (1.1 km) northeast of Cape Laurens at the northwest end of Heard Island. The feature was surveyed in 1948 by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions, who named it for L.E. Macey, a senior radio operator with the expedition.

Vanhoffen Bluff is a rocky bluff immediately east of Jacka Glacier on the north coast of Heard Island. It is named for Ernst Vanhöffen (1858–1918), a German zoologist, and a member of the Gauss expedition under the leadership of Erich von Drygalski (1865–1949). During its 1902 investigations of the area, Drygalski applied the name Kap Vanhoffen to a cliffed feature about 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) to the northwest, near The Sentinel. The ANARE, during its 1948 survey of the island, transferred the Vanhoffen name to this bluff, reporting that no well-marked cape exists along the high cliffs to the northwest.

Cape Laurens is a cape which marks the northwestern extremity of Laurens Peninsula and Heard Island. The name was probably applied by Captain Franklin F. Smith, of the American bark Laurens, who visited Heard Island in 1855–56 and who, with Captain Erasmus Darwin Rogers, initiated sealing operations and longtime American sealer occupation of Heard Island. The name appears on a chart by the British expedition under George Nares, which visited the island in HMS Challenger in 1874 and utilized the names then in use by the sealers.

References

  1. "Laurens Peninsula". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  2. Schmieder, Robert (2017-02-18). "The 2016 Cordell Expedition to Heard Island: Discovering Life in the Extremes" (PDF). Australian Antarctic Division. Retrieved 2023-04-11.

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from "Laurens Peninsula". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey.