The Rockefeller Mountains () are a group of low-lying, scattered

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

peaks and ridges, almost entirely snow-covered, standing 30 miles (48 km) south-southwest of the

Alexandra Mountains :''See also Queen Alexandra Range'' Alexandra Mountains () is a group of low, separated mountains in the north portion of Edward VII Peninsula, just southwest of Sulzberger Bay in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Discovered in January–February 19 ...

on the Edward VII Peninsula of

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 ...

. Discovered by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition on January 27, 1929, they were named by Byrd for

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in ...

, a patron of the expedition. The geologist Laurence M. Gould and his team flew out to this mountain range in their plane; but after landing, a

snow storm A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these storms are not necessar ...

blew it half a mile away onto the ice, destroying it. This left them stranded for 11 days with limited food until the Byrd team in the ''Little America'' settlement could be reached and could send another plane to pick them up. These events are captured in the documentary ''

With Byrd at the South Pole ''With Byrd at the South Pole'' (1930) is a documentary film about Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd and his 1st quest to the South Pole beginning at the Little America-Exploration Base. The film's soundtrack consists mostly of music and sound effect ...

''.

References

External links

* Mountain ranges of the Ross Dependency King Edward VII Land {{RossDependency-geo-stub