Gothic Mountains
Encyclopedia
The Gothic Mountains is a group of mountain
s, 32 kilometres (20 mi) long, in the Queen Maud Mountains
of Antarctica, located west of Watson Escarpment and bounded by Scott Glacier
, Albanus Glacier
, and Griffith Glacier
. The mountains were first visited in December 1934 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition (ByrdAE) geological party led by Quin Blackburn. The name was proposed by Edmund Stump, leader of a U.S. Antarctic Research Program (USARP) - Arizona State University
geological party which made investigations here in the 1980-81 season. The mountains are composed of granite
s which have weathered to produce a series of spires and peaks reminiscent of a Gothic cathedral.
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
s, 32 kilometres (20 mi) long, in the Queen Maud Mountains
Queen Maud Mountains
The Queen Maud Mountains are a major group of mountains, ranges and subordinate features of the Transantarctic Mountains, lying between the Beardmore and Reedy Glaciers and including the area from the head of the Ross Ice Shelf to the polar plateau in Antarctica...
of Antarctica, located west of Watson Escarpment and bounded by Scott Glacier
Scott Glacier (Transantarctic Mountains)
The Scott Glacier is a major glacier, 120 miles long, that drains the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the Queen Maud Mountains to the Ross Ice Shelf...
, Albanus Glacier
Albanus Glacier
Albanus Glacier , also known as Phillips Glacier, is a long glacier flowing west along the south side of Tapley Mountains to enter Scott Glacier just north of Mount Zanuck, in the Queen Maud Mountains in Antarctica. It was discovered in December 1934 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological...
, and Griffith Glacier
Griffith Glacier
Griffith Glacier is a tributary glacier draining westward from the California Plateau and Watson Escarpment to enter Scott Glacier between Mount McKercher and Mount Meeks. Mapped by United States Geological Survey from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960-63. Named by Advisory Committee on...
. The mountains were first visited in December 1934 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition (ByrdAE) geological party led by Quin Blackburn. The name was proposed by Edmund Stump, leader of a U.S. Antarctic Research Program (USARP) - Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
geological party which made investigations here in the 1980-81 season. The mountains are composed of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
s which have weathered to produce a series of spires and peaks reminiscent of a Gothic cathedral.
List of mountains
- Altar Peak is a peakSummit (topography)In topography, a summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a local maximum in elevation...
(1,780 m) located 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) east-southeast of Mount HarknessMount HarknessMount Harkness is a mountain, 1,900 m, standing 1.5 nautical miles south of Organ Pipe Peaks and forming part of the east wall of Scott Glacier, in the Queen Maud Mountains. Discovered in December 1934 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party under Quin Blackburn, and named at that time...
. The feature was first visited in December 1934 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party under Quin Blackburn. The descriptive name was suggested by Edmund Stump, leader of a United States Antarctic Research Program (USARP)-Arizona State UniversityArizona State UniversityArizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
geological party which studied this peak, 1987-88.
- Grizzly Peak (86°00′S 150°00′W) is a peakPyramidal peakA pyramidal peak, or sometimes in its most extreme form called a glacial horn, is a mountaintop that has been modified by the action of ice during glaciation and frost weathering...
rising to 2,200 m on the southwest flank of Mount Zanuck. The feature was visited in December 1934 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party and was included in "Darryl Zanuck Mountain." The granite of this peak is highly jointed and fairly bristles with small spires, suggestive of the coat of a Grizzly BearGrizzly BearThe grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...
.
- Mount Zanuck (85°58′S 151°10′W) is a mountain about 8 kilometres (5 mi) long surmounted by three sharp peaks in an east-west line, the highest of which rises to 2525 metres (8,284 ft). The feature stands at the south side of Albanus GlacierAlbanus GlacierAlbanus Glacier , also known as Phillips Glacier, is a long glacier flowing west along the south side of Tapley Mountains to enter Scott Glacier just north of Mount Zanuck, in the Queen Maud Mountains in Antarctica. It was discovered in December 1934 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological...
at the point where the latter joins Scott GlacierScott Glacier (Transantarctic Mountains)The Scott Glacier is a major glacier, 120 miles long, that drains the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the Queen Maud Mountains to the Ross Ice Shelf...
. Discovered by ByrdRichard Evelyn ByrdRear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr., USN was a naval officer who specialized in feats of exploration. He was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics...
on the Byrd Antarctic Expedition flight to the South PoleSouth PoleThe South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
in November 1929. The mountain was visited in December 1934 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party under Quin Blackburn. Named by Byrd for Darryl F. ZanuckDarryl F. ZanuckDarryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
, official of Twentieth Century-Fox Pictures20th Century FoxTwentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, who assisted the Byrd Antarctic Expedition, 1933–35, in assembling motion-picture records, and later supplied the United States Antarctic Service (USAS), 1939–41, with motion-picture projectors.
- Zanuck East Peak (85°57′S 150°53′W) is the easternmost of the three high peaks that rise from Mount Zanuck massif. The peakSummit (topography)In topography, a summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a local maximum in elevation...
was discovered and mapped by the geological party of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition, 1933–35, led by Quin Blackburn. The name was applied in association with Mount Zanuck by members of New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic ExpeditionNew Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic ExpeditionThe New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition describes a series of scientific explorations of the continent Antarctica. The expeditions were notably active in 1957-58 and again in 1958-59. The 1957-58 expedition went to the Ross Dependency and named the Borchgrevink Glacier...
(NZGSAE) who climbed the peak in the 1969-70 season.