The Bermel Escarpment is a snow and rock

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

, long, extending from the base of the

Ford Massif Ford Massif is a broad, snow-topped massif long and wide, forming the major topographic landmark of the northern Thiel Mountains in Antarctica. The massif rises to , is essentially flat, and terminates in steep rock cliffs in all but the southern ...

to King Peak, in the

Thiel Mountains The Thiel Mountains are an isolated, mainly snow-capped mountain range of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in the Ellsworth Land region of Antarctica. The mountain range is long, and is located roughly between the Horlick Mountai ...

. The escarpment drops from the polar plateau to the ice surface north of these mountains. At its base sits Drake Nunatak. 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 ...

after Peter F. Bermel, a cartographer with 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, ...

(USGS). Bermel was co-leader (with Arthur B. Ford) of the USGS Thiel Mountains party which surveyed the mountains in 1960–61, and also leader of USGS Topo East and Topo West, 1962–63, in which geodetic control was extended from the area of

Cape Hallett Cape Hallett is a snow-free area (Antarctic oasis) on the northern tip of the Hallett Peninsula on the Ross Sea coast of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Cape Adare lies to the north. History In 1956, during Operation Deep Freeze II, was dama ...

to the

Wilson Hills Wilson Hills () is a group of scattered hills, nunataks and ridges that extend NW-SE for about between Matusevich Glacier and Pryor Glacier in Antarctica. They were discovered by Lieutenant Harry Pennell, Royal Navy, on the Terra Nova Expedition ...

(Topo West), and from the foot of

Beardmore Glacier The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest valley glaciers in the world, being long and having a width of . It descends about from the Antarctic Plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf and is bordered by the Commonwealth Range of the Queen ...

through the

Horlick Mountains The Horlick Mountains are a mountain range in the Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica. Some sources indicate that the designation includes the Ohio Range, the Long Hills, and all of the Wisconsin Range, while others suggest that it includes o ...

(Topo East).

References

Escarpments of Antarctica {{EllsworthLand-geo-stub

See also

Further reading

References