The Patuxent Range () is a major range of the

Pensacola Mountains The Pensacola Mountains () are a large group of mountain ranges and peaks that extend in a northeast–southwest direction in the Transantarctic Mountains System, Queen Elizabeth Land region of Antarctica. They comprise the Argentina Range, Forre ...

, Antarctica. It comprises the Thomas Hills, Anderson Hills, Mackin Table and various

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 and ridges bounded by the

Foundation Ice Stream Foundation Ice Stream () is a major ice stream in the Pensacola Mountains of Antarctica. The ice stream drains northward for along the west side of the Patuxent Range and the Neptune Range to enter the Ronne Ice Shelf westward of Dufek Massi ...

, Academy Glacier and the

Patuxent Ice Stream Foundation Ice Stream () is a major ice stream in the Pensacola Mountains of Antarctica. The ice stream drains northward for along the west side of the Patuxent Range and the Neptune Range to enter the Ronne Ice Shelf westward of Dufek Massi ...

Exploration and name

The Patuxent Range was discovered and partially photographed on January 13, 1956 in the course of a transcontinental nonstop plane flight by personnel of U.S. Navy

Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze is the code name for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There was an init ...

I from

McMurdo Sound The McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica, known as the southernmost passable body of water in the world, located approximately from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841 and named it after Lieutenant ...

Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha C ...

and return. It was named by

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) for the

Naval Air Station Patuxent River Naval Air Station Patuxent River , also known as NAS Pax River, is a United States naval air station in St. Mary’s County, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River. It is home to Headquarters, Naval Air Systems Comm ...

(at Cedar Point, Maryland) located on the south side of the mouth of the

Patuxent River The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeas ...

. The range was mapped in detail by

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

from surveys and

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

air photos, 1956-66.

Location

The Putuxent Range lies to the south of the Foundation Ice Stream, west of the Academy Glacier and northeast of the Patuxent Ice Stream. In the north, the Thomas Hills run along the south side of the Foundation Ice Stream. The MacNamara Glacier to their south separates them from the Anderson Hills. In the southwest, Snake Ridge is at the center of a scattered group of

s. Mackin Table is in the southeast.

Glaciers

(), a major

ice stream An ice stream is a region of fast-moving ice within an ice sheet. It is a type of glacier, a body of ice that moves under its own weight. They can move upwards of a year, and can be up to in width, and hundreds of kilometers in length. They t ...

in the

of Antarctica. The ice stream drains northward for along the west side of the Patuxent Range and the

Neptune Range The Neptune Range () is a mountain range, long, lying west-southwest of Forrestal Range in the central part of the Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica. The range comprises Washington Escarpment with its associated ridges, valleys and peaks, the Iro ...

to enter the Ronne Ice Shelf westward of

Dufek Massif The Dufek Massif () is a rugged, largely snow-covered massif long, standing west of the Forrestal Range in the northern part of the Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica. Discovery and name The Dufek Massif was discovered and photographed on Januar ...

. * Academy Glacier (), a major glacier in the Pensacola Mountains, draining northwestward between the Patuxent and Neptune Ranges to enter Foundation Ice Stream. *

, a broad ice stream between Patuxent Range and Pecora Escarpment in the Pensacola Mountains, draining northwestward to the upper part of Foundation Ice Stream.

Features

Geographical features that contain or are the focus of groups of lesser features include: * Thomas Hills (), a linear group of hills, long, between

and MacNamara Glacier at the north end of the Patuxent Range. * Anderson Hills (), an irregular group of hills, ridges and peaks between Mackin Table and the Thomas Hills in the Patuxent Range. * Snake Ridge (), a serpentine ridge, long, adjoining the northwest extremity of Mackin Table in the Patuxent Range. * Mackin Table (), an ice-topped, wedge-shaped plateau, about long, standing just north of

in the Patuxent Range.

References

Sources

* * *{{Include-USGov ">agency=United States Geological Survey . Transantarctic Mountains">Pensacola Mountains">. Transantarctic Mountains