Caloplaca Hills

Caloplaca Hills
Geography
Continent	Antarctica
Area	Marie Byrd Land
Range coordinates	86°7′S 131°0′W
Parent range	Horlick Mountains (?)

The Caloplaca Hills (86°7′S 131°0′W) are a distinctive group of rock hills including Mount Carmer and Heathcock Peak, lying east of the Watson Escarpment on the west side of Reedy Glacier.[1]

Exploration and naming

The Caloplaca Hills were mapped by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and from United States Navy aerial photographs, 1960–64. The name was suggested by John H. Mercer of the Institute of Polar Studies, Ohio State University, after Caloplaca, the type of lichen found here.[1]

Location

Caloplaca Hills towards the northwest of map

The Caloplaca Hills lie to the west of the Reedy Glacier, east of the Wotkyns Glacier, which flows north into the Reedy Glacier from the eastern part of the Watson Escarpment. They include Mount Carmer and Heathcock Peak.[2] A 2005 map by Davis and Blankenship shows the Horlick Mountains including the eastern part of the Queen Maud Mountains and most of the Wisconsin Range.[3] The Wisconsin Range may be taken to include the Watson Escarpment south of the Kansas Glacier, the Quartz Hills, the Caloplaca Hills and the Cleveland Mesa, all in the Queen Maud Mountains to the west of the Reedy Glacier.[3]

Features

Mount Carmer

Main article: Mount Carmer

86°06′S 131°11′W. A mountain on the east side of Wotkyns Glacier, standing 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) west-northwest of Heathcock Peak. Mapped by USGS from surveys and USN air photos, 1960–64. Named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for John L. Carmer, electronics technician at Byrd Station in 1962.[4]

Heathcock Peak

Main article: Heathcock Peak

86°07′S 130°40′W. A peak, 2,310 metres (7,580 ft) high, located in the east part of Caloplaca Hills and overlooking the west edge of Reedy Glacier. Mapped by USGS from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1960-64. Named by US-ACAN for Joe D. Heathcock, builder at Byrd Station in 1962.[5]

References

1. Alberts 1995, p. 113.
2. Caloplaca Hills USGS.
3. Faure & Mensing 2010, p. 201.
4. Alberts 1995, p. 120.
5. Alberts 1995, p. 322.

Sources

• Alberts, Fred G., ed. (1995), Geographic Names of the Antarctic (PDF) (2 ed.), United States Board on Geographic Names, retrieved 2023-12-03  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Board on Geographic Names.
• Caloplaca Hills, USGS: United States Geological Survey, retrieved 2024-01-16
• Faure, Gunter; Mensing, Teresa M. (21 September 2010), The Transantarctic Mountains: Rocks, Ice, Meteorites and Waterpage, Springer Science & Business Media, ISBN 978-90-481-9390-5, retrieved 2024-01-16

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey.