The Thiel Mountains are an isolated, mainly snow-capped

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in the Ellsworth Land region 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 ...

. The mountain range is long, and is located roughly between 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 ...

and the

Pensacola Mountains The Pensacola Mountains are a large group of mountain ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in the Queen Elizabeth Land region of Antarctica. Geography They extend 450 km (280 mi) in a NE-SW direction. Subranges of the ...

, and extends from Moulton Escarpment on the west to Nolan Pillar on the east. Major components include

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 ...

(2,810 m), Bermel Escarpment and a group of eastern peaks near Nolan Pillar. The mountains were observed and first positioned by the USARP Horlick Mountains Traverse Party, 1958–59. The mountains were surveyed by the USGS Thiel Mountains parties of 1960-61 and 1961–62. The Thiel Mountains were named by

US-ACAN 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 Dr.

Edward C. Thiel Edward C. Thiel (May 4, 1928 – November 9, 1961), was a geologist from the University of Wisconsin and chief seismologist at Ellsworth Station Antarctica, from 1956 to 1958. He was leader of the traverse party that discovered the Thiel Trough sub ...

, traverse

seismologist Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

at Ellsworth Station and the

in 1957. In December 1959, he made airlifted geophysical observations along the 88th meridian west, including work near these mountains. Thiel perished with four others on November 9, 1961, in the crash of a P2V Neptune aircraft soon after take-off from

Wilkes Station Wilkes Station was an Antarctic research station established 29 January 1957 by the United States as one of seven U.S. stations established for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) program in Antarctica. It was taken over by Australia on ...

. An aircraft fuel cache () is located near the Thiel Mountains for planes traveling between the

Union Glacier Camp The Union Glacier Camp is the only private seasonally occupied camp site located in Ellsworth Land in Antarctica. The camp is located in the Heritage Range, below the Ellsworth Mountains, on Union Glacier, that gives the camp its name. Locatio ...

and the

Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is the United States scientific research station at the South Pole of the Earth. It is the southernmost point under the jurisdiction (not sovereignty) of the United States. The station is located on the ...

.South Pole Flights
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Gallery

Image:Thiel_Mountains_far.jpg, Distant aerial view of the Thiel Mountains

References

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of Ellsworth Land Transantarctic Mountains

Gallery

See also

References