Martin Cirque () is a prominent

cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...

, northwest of

Mount Newall Mount Newall () is a peak, 1,920 m, the northeast extremity of Asgard Range, in Victoria Land. Discovered by the Discovery expedition (1901–04) and named for one of the men who helped raise funds to send a relief ship for the expedition. Ni ...

, in the

Asgard Range The Asgard Range is a mountain range in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It divides Wright Valley from Taylor Glacier and Taylor Valley, and was named by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (1958–59) after Asgard, the home o ...

, Antarctica. It occupies the south wall of

Wright Valley The Wright Valley, named for Sir Charles Wright, is the central one of the three large Dry Valleys in the Transantarctic Mountains, located west of McMurdo Sound at approximately . Wright Valley contains the Onyx River, the longest river in Ant ...

between

Denton Glacier Denton Glacier () is a small hanging glacier which drains the northwest slopes of Mount Newall and terminates on the south wall of Wright Valley, Victoria Land. It was named by U.S. geologist Robert Nichols for George H. Denton, geological assist ...

and

Nichols Ridge Nichols Ridge () is a rock ridge between Denton Glacier and Decker Glacier in east Asgard Range, Victoria Land. The feature descends from heights north of Mount Newall to the snout of Wright Lower Glacier at the east end of Wright Valley. Named by A ...

. The cirque is wide and its floor, at an elevation of , is nearly ice free. It 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 ...

(1997) after Craig J. Martin, who had 10 years involvement in Antarctic construction and engineering projects at

Siple Station Siple Station was a research station in Antarctica (), established in 1973 by Stanford's STAR Lab, to perform experiments that actively probed the magnetosphere using very low frequency (VLF) waves. Its location was selected to be near the Earth' ...

South Pole Station South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

, and

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...

and various field camps in the

McMurdo Dry Valleys The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of largely snow-free valleys in Antarctica, located within Victoria Land west of McMurdo Sound. The Dry Valleys experience extremely low humidity and surrounding mountains prevent the flow of ice from nearby ...

from 1977. From 1989 he was Director, Engineering, of

Antarctic Support Associates The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

, with responsibility for the management of engineering, construction, and facilities maintenance efforts that directly support U.S. scientific research in Antarctica.

References

Cirques of Antarctica Landforms of Victoria Land McMurdo Dry Valleys {{McMurdoDryValleys-geo-stub