Hammer Col is a broad ice-covered col at elevation between the south part of the

Vinson Massif Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located ab ...

and the

Craddock Massif Craddock Massif is a mountain massif in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, in the Chilean claim of West Antarctica. Location and highest point Craddock Massif is located at the southeastern side of Vinson Massif, between Hammer C ...

in the

Sentinel Range The Sentinel Range is a major mountain range situated northward of Minnesota Glacier and forming the northern half of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. The range trends NNW-SSE for about and is 24 to 48 km (15 to 30 mi) wide. Man ...

of the

Ellsworth Mountains The Ellsworth Mountains are the highest mountain ranges in Antarctica, forming a long and wide chain of mountains in a north to south configuration on the western margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Marie Byrd Land. They are bisected by Minnesota ...

, Antarctica. The wide saddle is relatively level and visually separates the two

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

s whether viewed from the east or the west. It is part of the glacial divide between the heads of

Dater Glacier The Dater Glacier is a steep valley glacier in Antarctica, long and from wide, flowing northeast in a sinuous course from the eastern slopes of the Vinson Massif between Sullivan Heights and Veregava Ridge to Rutford Ice Stream which border ...

on the northeast and

Gildea Glacier Gildea Glacier is a glacier long and wide flowing southwestward from Craddock Massif between Mount Slaughter and Mount Atkinson into Nimitz Glacier, in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica. The upper portion of the glac ...

on the southwest. The feature 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 ...

(2006) after William R. Hammer of the Department of Geology, Augustana College, Rock Island, IL, a

U.S. Antarctic Program The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the A ...

investigator of

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

fossils, primarily in the central

Transantarctic Mountains The Transantarctic Mountains (abbreviated TAM) comprise a mountain range of uplifted (primarily sedimentary rock, sedimentary) rock in Antarctica which extend, with some interruptions, across the continent from Cape Adare in northern Victoria La ...

, 1977–2003.

Maps

Vinson Massif.
Scale 1:250 000 topographic map. Reston, Virginia: US Geological Survey, 1988. * D. Gildea and C. Rada. Vinson Massif and the Sentinel Range. Scale 1:50 000 topographic map. Omega Foundation, 2007.
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD).
Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly updated.

References

External links

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR)

Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica
Mountain passes of Ellsworth Land West Antarctica {{EllsworthLand-geo-stub