The Executive Committee Range is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

consisting of five major

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

es, which trends north-south for along the

126th meridian west The meridian 126° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. The 126th meridian west forms a grea ...

, in

Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of , it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th centur ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. The complete range was discovered by the

United States Antarctic Service Expedition The United States Antarctic Service Expedition (1939–1941), often referred to as Byrd’s Third Antarctic Expedition, was an expedition jointly sponsored by the United States Navy, State Department, Department of the Interior and The Treasu ...

(1939–41), during a flyover of the area on 15 December 1940, and named for the Executive Committee of the Expedition. Four of the five mountains are named in honor of individual members of the committee;

Mount Sidley Mount Sidley is the highest dormant volcano in Antarctica, a member of the Volcanic Seven Summits, with a summit elevation of . It is a massive, mainly snow-covered shield volcano which is the highest of the five volcanic mountains that comprise t ...

, the most imposing mountain in the range and highest volcano in Antarctica, had been discovered and named by Rear Admiral

Byrd Byrd commonly refers to: * William Byrd (c. 1540 – 1623), an English composer of the Renaissance * Richard E. Byrd (1888–1957), an American naval officer and explorer Byrd or Byrds may also refer to: Other people * Byrd (surname), includin ...

in 1934, during his privately funded Second Antarctic Expedition. The entire range was mapped in detail, by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

, using various surveys and U.S. Navy

trimetrogon Trimetrogon is an aerial photographic survey method that involves the use of three cameras in one assembly. One camera is pointed directly downwards, and the other two are pointed to either side of the flight path at a 30° depression angle (60° ...

photography performed from 1958 to 1960.

Mountains

The following are the five mountains, all volcanic in origin, of the Executive Committee Range, in order from south to north.

Mount Waesche

Mount Waesche, the southernmost mountain in the range, rises to . MountSidleyWaescheMap

Mount Sidley

Mount Sidley, northeast of Mount Waesche, is the highest in the range and the highest volcano in Antarctica, with a summit of .

Mount Hartigan

Mount Hartigan () is a broad mountain immediately north of Mount Sidley. Mount Hartigan rises to , at the higher of its twin Boudette Peaks, located in its northern portion. The mountain was discovered by the United States Antarctic Service expedition on a flight, Dec. 15, 1940, and named for Rear Admiral Charles C. Hartigan, U.S. Navy (USN), Navy Department member of the Antarctic Service Executive Committee. HamptonMap

Mount Cumming

Mount Cumming () is a low, mostly snow-covered mountain, volcanic in origin, located midway between Mount Hampton and Mount Hartigan. A circular snow-covered crater occupies the summit area, rising to at Annexstad Peak, on the southwest side of the crater rim. Discovered by the U.S. Antarctic Service (USAS) (1939–41) on a flight, Dec. 15, 1940, and named for Hugh S. Cumming, Jr., State Department member of the U.S. Antarctic Service (USAS) Executive Committee. Mapped by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and U.S. Navy trimetrogon photography, 1958-60.

Mount Hampton

Mount Hampton, the northernmost mountain in the range, rises to at Marks Peak, on the south side of its crater rim.

Other geological features

Peaks

The five mountains have a number of associated subsidiary peaks that have been identified and named. Chang Peak rises to on the northeastern slope of Mount Waesche. Doumani Peak rises to on the southern slopes of Mount Sidley. Lavris Peak rises to in the northeastern portion of Mount Hartigan. Le Vaux Peak () is a small peak on the east side of the crater rim of Mount Cumming. Mapped by

(USGS) from surveys and

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

aerial photographs, 1958-60. 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 Howard A. Le Vaux, auroral physicist at

Byrd Station The Byrd Station is a former research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by U.S. Navy Seabees during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica. History A joint Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marin ...

, 1959, and a member of the Marie Byrd Land Traverse Party, 1959-60. Mintz Peak rises to on the southeast corner of Mount Hartigan. Tusing Peak rises to from the central portion of Mount Hartigan. Whitney Peak is a conspicuous peak rising to , located northwest of Mount Hampton, from which it is separated by a distinctive ice-covered

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

. Woolam Peak is a small peak on the southern part of the crater rim of Mount Cumming.

Miscellaneous

The Feyerharm Knoll is an ice-covered

knoll In geography, knoll is another term for a knowe or hillock, a small, low, round natural hill or mound. Knoll may also refer to: Places * Knoll Camp, site of an Iron Age hill fort Hampshire, England, United Kingdom * Knoll Lake, Leonard Canyon, A ...

protruding to in a terrain on the lower northeastern slope of Mount Sidley. The

Weiss Amphitheater Weiss Amphitheater () is an amphitheater-like caldera, 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) wide and breached at the southern side, occupying the south-central part of Mount Sidley, in the Executive Committee Range, Marie Byrd Land. It was mapped by ...

is an amphitheater-like

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

, wide and breached at the southern side, occupying the south-central part of Mount Sidley.

Recent and Ongoing Magmatism

In November 2013, Lough et al.Lough, A., Wiens, D., Barcheck, C., Aster, R., Nyblade, A., Huerta, A., Wilson, T., Seismic detection of an active subglacial volcanic center in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, Nature Geoscience, 10.1038/ngeo1992, 2013. reported deep long period volcanic earthquakes centered at depths of 30-40 km approximately 55 km S of Mount Sidley that were interpreted as indications of present deep crustal magmatic activity beneath the Executive Committee Range. Ice penetrating radar results reported in this study indicated a sub-ice topographic feature, interpreted as a volcano, above the seismic swarms. The study also reported a mid-icecap (1400 m depth) ash layer about 8,000 years old that was interpreted as probably originating at nearby Mount Waesche.

References

{{Reflist Volcanoes of Marie Byrd Land