The Emlen Peaks () is a group of scattered peaks and

nunatak A nunatak (from Inuit language, Inuit ) is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They often form natural pyramidal peaks. Isolated nunataks are also cal ...

s, long and wide. It is south of

Daniels Range The Daniels Range () is a principal mountain range of the Usarp Mountains, about 80 km (50 mi) long and 16 km (10 mi) wide, bounded to the north by Harlin Glacier and to the south by Gressitt Glacier. Exploration and name ...

in the south end of the

Usarp Mountains The Usarp Mountains are a major mountain range in North Victoria Land, Antarctica. They are west of the Rennick Glacier and trend north to south for about . The mountains are bounded to the north by Pryor Glacier and the Wilson Hills. They are we ...

in northern

Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78th parallel south, 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Ant ...

, Antarctica.

Early exploration and name

Emlen Peaks was mapped by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

(USGS) from surveys and

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

air photos in 1960–63. It was named by the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

(US-ACAN) after John Thompson Emlen Jr. (1908–1997), a biologist from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. As a program leader he made

penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

navigational studies on the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between high ...

, the interior of

, and elsewhere in Antarctica in 1962–63.

Glacier

Gressitt Glacier

. A broad glacier, about 45 mi long, draining the area between

and Emlen Peaks in the Usarp Mountains and flowing northeast to enter the

Rennick Glacier Rennick Glacier () is a broad glacier, nearly long, which is one of the largest in Antarctica. It rises on the polar plateau westward of Mesa Range and is wide, narrowing to near the coast. It takes its name from Rennick Bay where the glacier r ...

just north of the

Morozumi Range The Morozumi Range () is a mountain range in the Usarp Mountains of North Victoria Land, Antarctica. It extends northwest–southeast for , with its northern elevations overlooking the convergence of Gressitt Glacier and Rennick Glacier. Early ...

. Mapped by USGS from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960–63. Named by US-ACAN for biologist J. Linsley Gressitt, Program Director who made biological studies, particularly in the Ross Sea area, in six austral summers, 1959–60 to 1965–66.

Features

Named features, from north to south:

Burris Nunatak

. A nunatak near the north extremity of Emlen Peaks, northwest of Mount Cox, in the Usarp Mountains. Mapped by USGS from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960–63. Named by US-ACAN for James M. Burris, assistant to the USARP representative at McMurdo Station, 1967–68.

Mount Cox

. A mountain (1,960 m) in the north-central part of Emlen Peaks, north of Killer Nunatak. Mapped by USGS from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960–63. Named by US-ACAN for Alien N. Cox, ADJ2, USN, crew chief in R4D (Skytrain) aircraft during 1962–63 in support of the USGS Topo East-West survey. Cox returned to the Antarctic in the 1963–64 and 1964–65 seasons.

Dodd Nunatak

. A nunatak 2.5 mi W of Mount Cox in the northwest portion of Emlen Peaks in the Usarp Mountains. Mapped by USGS from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960–63. Named by US-ACAN for Walter H. Dodd of the Public Information Office, National Science Foundation, who worked at McMurdo Station in the 1966–67 and 1967-68 austral summers.

Killer Nunatak

. A granite nunatak (2,080 m) near the center of the Emlen Peaks, northwest of Mount Phelen, in the Usarp Mountains. Named by the northern party of the NZGSAE, 1963–64, for its distinctive outline resembling the dorsal fin of a killer whale.

Mount Phelan

. A mostly ice-free mountain (2,000 m) located southeast of Killer Nunatak in the south portion of Emlen Peaks, Usarp Mountains. Mapped by USGS from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960–63. Named by US-AC AN for Michael J. Phelan, geomagnetist/seismologist at South Pole Station, 1962; a member of the Byrd Traverse, 1963–64.

Heuser Nunatak

. A small nunatak that lies south of Mount Phelen and marks the south extremity of the Emlen Peaks in the Usarp Mountains. Mapped by USGS from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1959–64. Named by US-ACAN for Charles M. Heuser, biolab technician at McMurdo Station, 1966–67.

References

Sources

* {{refend Mountain ranges of Victoria Land