Mount Kauffman is a prominent mountain, high, that surmounts the northwest end of the

Ames Range The Ames Range is an Antarctic range of snow-covered, flat-topped, steep-sided mountains, extending in a N-S direction for 32 km (20 mi) and forming a right angle with the eastern end of the Flood Range in Marie Byrd Land. They were di ...

in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. It was mapped 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, ...

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 ...

air photos, 1959–65, and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Commander S.K. Kauffman, U.S. Navy, a staff civil engineering officer who supervised the planning and building of

Plateau Station Plateau Station is an inactive American research and South Pole—Queen Maud Land Traverse support base on the central Antarctic Plateau. Construction on the site started on December 13, 1965, and the first traverse team (named SPQML II) arr ...

, 1965–66. It is connected to Mount Kosciusko by Gardiner Ridge which is at one end of

Brown Valley Brown Valley is a rectangular ice-covered valley between Mount Kauffman and Mount Kosciusko in the northeast end of the Ames Range, Marie Byrd Land. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and from U.S. Navy air photo ...

. Kauffman consists of a potentially active shield volcano with a wide summit

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 ...

. Minor

fumarolic A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or other rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volc ...

activity was observed in 1977.

References

Volcanoes of Marie Byrd Land Polygenetic shield volcanoes Calderas of Antarctica Ames Range Miocene shield volcanoes {{MarieByrdLand-geo-stub