Thiel Mountains
Part of the Transantarctic range in Ellsworth Land
title: "Thiel Mountains" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountain-ranges-of-ellsworth-land", "transantarctic-mountains"] description: "Part of the Transantarctic range in Ellsworth Land" topic_path: "general/mountain-ranges-of-ellsworth-land" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiel_Mountains" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Part of the Transantarctic range in Ellsworth Land ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Thiel Mountains |
| photo | Thiel_Mountains_close.jpg |
| photo_caption | Aerial view of the Thiel Mountains |
| country | Antarctica |
| country_type | Continent |
| subdivision2_type | Region |
| subdivision2 | Ellsworth Land |
| parent | Transantarctic Mountains |
| highest | Anderson Summit |
| elevation_m | 2810 |
| map | Antarctica |
| map_caption | Location in Antarctica |
| length_km | 72 |
| area_km2 | 71578 |
| coordinates | |
| :: |
| name=Thiel Mountains | photo=Thiel_Mountains_close.jpg | photo_caption=Aerial view of the Thiel Mountains | country= Antarctica | country_type=Continent | subdivision2_type=Region | subdivision2= Ellsworth Land | parent= Transantarctic Mountains | borders_on= | highest=Anderson Summit | elevation_m=2810 | map=Antarctica | map_caption= Location in Antarctica | geology= | orogeny= | length_km=72 | area_km2=71578 | coordinates= The Thiel Mountains () are isolated, mainly snow-capped mountains of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in the Ellsworth Land region of Antarctica. The mountain range is 45 nmi long, is located roughly between the Horlick Mountains and the Pensacola Mountains, and extends from Moulton Escarpment on the west to Nolan Pillar on the east. Major components include Ford Massif (2,810 m), Bermel Escarpment and a group of eastern peaks near Nolan Pillar.
Discovery and naming
The Thiel Mountains were observed and first positioned by the United States Antarctic Research Program (USARP) Horlick Mountains Traverse Party, 1958–59. They were surveyed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Thiel Mountains parties of 1960–61 and 1961–62. They were named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) after Edward C. Thiel, traverse seismologist at Ellsworth Station and the Pensacola Mountains 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 in the crash of a P2V Neptune aircraft soon after take-off from Wilkes Station on November 9, 1961.
Location
File:Thiel Mountains USGS.jpg|Thiel Mountains File:Stewart_Hills_USGS.jpg|Region to the north of Thiel Mountains File:Thiel_Mountains_far.jpg|Distant aerial view of the Thiel Mountains
The Thiel Mountains include the Moulton Escarpment to the northwest, which includes Chastain Peak. To the north it contains the Ford Massif. To the southeast is the Bermel Escarpment, the Davies Escarpment and Lewis Nunatak. The Sontag Nunatak is some distance to the north, and the Stewart Hills are yet further north.
Thiel aircraft refueling depot
| name = Thiel Skiway | image = Thiel Mountains Refueling.jpg | image-width = 280 | image_alt = | caption = Thiel Mountains refueling depot | image2 = | image2-width = | image2_alt = | caption2 = | IATA = | ICAO = AT26 | type = Private | owner-oper = | owner = | operator = | city-served = | location = Thiel Mountains Ellsworth Land | elevation-f = | elevation-m = | metric-elev = | coordinates = | website = | r1-number = 17/35 | r1-length-f = 5,175 | r1-length-m = 1,577 | r1-surface = Ice | metric-rwy = | h1-number = | h1-length-f = | h1-length-m = | h1-surface = | stat1-header = | stat1-data = | stat-year = | footnotes = As of 2009, Adventure Network International/Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ANI/ALE) was the only member of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) that provided land-based tourism activities of any extent in the Antarctic. It was formed by a 2003 takeover of Adventure Network International by Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions. ALE/ANI maintains a fuel cache at Thiel Mountains, which provides fuel for long-distance flights and serves as a backup for Search and Rescue.
A 2002 description of the fuel depot near the Thiel Mountains said "the landing strip is a flat area within view of the mountains, marked with black garbage bags filled with snow. There are a bunch of 55-gallon drums of fuel and a Canadian flag." Visitors in December 2011 travelling in a Twin Otter from Union Glacier to the South Pole landed close to Thiel Mountains at to refuel on the way. The operator used to fly in fuel barrels, burning one barrel for every four delivered, but now carried the fuel barrels overland, a much more efficient approach.
Features
In addition to the Ford Massif and Bermel Escarpment, there are various smaller features in or near the Thiel Mountains.
Moulton Escarpment
Chastain Peak
Davies Escarpment
Lewis Nunatak
Sonntag Nunatak
Stewart Hills
Hart Hills
Pagano Nunatak
References
Sources
- {{citation|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/fedgov/70039167/report.pdf |accessdate=2023-12-03 |edition=2 |editor-last=Alberts |title=Geographic Names of the Antarctic |editor-first=Fred G. |publisher=United States Board on Geographic Names |year=1995}}
- {{citation |url=http://cooladventures.net/Writing%20Clips/mbantarctica.htm |accessdate=2024-01-18 |last=Kern |first=Don |title=To the Pole |work=Antarctica Marathon Journal |year=2002 }}
- {{citation |url=https://iaato.org/download/ip101-land-based-tourism-facilities |accessdate=2024-01-18 |title=Land-Based Tourism Facilities |year=2009 |publisher=IAATO |ref= }}
- {{citation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thiel_Mountains_USGS.jpg |accessdate=2024-01-17 |title=Thiel Mountains |publisher=USGS: United States Geological Survey |ref= }}
- {{citation |url=https://confluence.org/confluence.php?id=808 |accessdate=2024-01-18 |last=Schindler |first=Florian |date=2011-12-13 |title=90°S (visit #4) |publisher=confluence.org}}
- {{citation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stewart_Hills_USGS.jpg |accessdate=2024-01-17 |title=Stewart Hills |publisher=USGS: United States Geological Survey |ref= }}
References
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::