The McLaughlin Cliffs () are abrupt rock cliffs that overlook

George VI Sound George VI Sound or Canal Jorge VI or Canal Presidente Sarmiento or Canal Seaver or King George VI Sound or King George the Sixth Sound is a major bay/ fault depression, 300 miles (483 km) long and mainly covered by a permanent ice shelf. I ...

between

Armstrong Glacier Armstrong Glacier () is a glacier flowing from the south side of Mount Bagshawe westward into George VI Sound. It provides the only known safe route for mechanical vehicles from George VI Sound to the Palmer Land plateau. It was named by the Unit ...

and

Conchie Glacier Conchie Glacier () is a glacier on the west coast of Palmer Land which flows southwest into George VI Sound between the Batterbee Mountains and the Steeple Peaks. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee for Flight-Lieutenant Bertie ...

, in western

Palmer Land Palmer Land () is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica that lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This application of Palmer Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the Advisory Committee on Antarctic N ...

, Antarctica. They were 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 ...

for Lieutenant Donald J. McLaughlin, Civil Engineer Corps,

U.S. Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

, officer-in-charge of

Palmer Station Palmer Station is a United States research station in Antarctica located on Anvers island (aka Antwerp Island), the only U.S. station on the continent located north of the Antarctic Circle. The first Palmer was built in 1965, but the current sit ...

in 1970. The steep cliffs provide nesting sites for a colony of

snow petrel The snow petrel (''Pagodroma nivea'') is the only member of the genus ''Pagodroma.'' It is one of only three birds that have been seen at the Geographic South Pole, along with the Antarctic petrel and the south polar skua, which has the most s ...

s (''Pagodroma nivea'').

References

Cliffs of Palmer Land {{PalmerLand-geo-stub