The Harold Byrd Mountains (), also known more simply as the Byrd Mountains, are a group of exposed mountains and

nunatak A nunatak (from Inuit ''nunataq'') 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 are also called glacial islands. Examples are natural pyramidal peaks. ...

s which extend in an east–west direction between the lower part of

Leverett Glacier Leverett Glacier in Antarctica is about long and wide, draining northward from the Watson Escarpment, between California Plateau and Stanford Plateau, and then trending west-northwest between the Tapley Mountains and Harold Byrd Mountains to ...

and the head of the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between hi ...

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 ...

. They were discovered in December 1929 by the

Byrd Antarctic Expedition Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...

geological party under

Laurence Gould Laurence McKinley Gould (August 22, 1896 – June 21, 1995) was an American geologist, educator, and polar explorer. He made expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic, and was chief scientist on Richard Evelyn Byrd's first Antarctic expeditio ...

, and named by Rear Admiral

Richard E. Byrd Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...

for D. Harold Byrd, a cousin of his and a contributor towards the purchase of furs for the expedition.

References

Mountain ranges of Marie Byrd Land {{MarieByrdLand-geo-stub