The Destination Nunataks () are a group of 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, rising to at Pyramid Peak and including Sphinx Peak, Andrews Peak, Mummy Ridge, and unnamed nunataks to the northwest, located in northeast Evans Névé, northwest of the

Barker Range Barker Range () is a mountain range trending northwest–southeast and including Jato Nunatak, Mount Watt, Mount McCarthy, and Mount Burton, located at the southwest side of the Millen Range in the Victory Mountains, Victoria Land, Antarctica. It ...

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.

Exploration and naming

This group was visited in 1970–71 by a

Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition The Antarctic Research Centre (ARC) is part of the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington. Its mission is to research " Antarctic climate history and processes, and their influence on the global cl ...

(VUWAE) geological party led by M.G. Laird. The name "Destination Rocks" was originally used for the feature because these nunataks were near the northern limits of Laird's expedition. The name Destination Nunataks, as approved by the

New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee (NZ-APC) is an adjudicating committee established to authorize the naming of features in the Ross Dependency on the Antarctic continent. It is composed of the members of the New Zealand Geographic Board pl ...

(NZ-APC) and the United States

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) in 1985, applies to the entire group described rather than to just two nunataks at the southeast end as indicated on some maps.

Location

The Destination Nunataks lie at the end of a ridge extended southeast from the West Quartzite Range. The Millen Range of the

Victory Mountains The Victory Mountains () are a major group of mountains in Victoria Land, Antarctica, about long and wide, which is bounded primarily by Mariner and Tucker glaciers and the Ross Sea. They are north of the Mountaineer Range, east of the Freyber ...

lies to the east, and the

to the south. Evans Névé is to the southwest. The southern end of the Salamander Range is to the west.

Features

Pyramid Peak

. A peak in the southeast part of the Destination Nunataks, rising to high north of Sphinx Peak. Descriptively named by the Northern Party of NZFMCAE, 1962-63.

Sphinx Peak

. A massive summit south of Pyramid Peak, in the southeast part of the Destination Nunataks. Named in association with Pyramid Peak by the Northern Party of NZFMCAE, 1962-63.

Andrews Peak

. A peak , west of Pyramid Peak. Named by the

(NZ-APC) after Peter Andrews, geologist with the VUWAE Evans Névé field party, 1971-72, who worked in this area.

Mummy Ridge

. A ridge east of Pyramid Peak. The ridge was visited in 1981-82 by Bradley Field, geologist,

New Zealand Geological Survey GNS Science (), officially registered as the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited, is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute. It focuses on geology, geophysics (including seismology and volcanology), and nuclear science (partic ...

(NZGS), who suggested the name in association with nearby Pyramid Peak and Sphinx Peak.

References

Sources

* * {{Include-USGov , agency=United States Geological Survey Nunataks of Victoria Land Pennell Coast