Watson Escarpment

---

title: "Watson Escarpment" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["escarpments-of-antarctica", "landforms-of-marie-byrd-land"] description: "Escarpment in the Queen Maud Mountains, Antarctica" topic_path: "general/escarpments-of-antarctica" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_Escarpment" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Escarpment in the Queen Maud Mountains, Antarctica ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain range"]

Field	Value
country_type	Continent
country	Antarctica
parent	Queen Maud Mountains
range_coordinates
map	Antarctica
::

|name = |other_name = |photo = |photo_alt = |photo_caption = |country_type = Continent |country = Antarctica |country1 = |length_km = |width_km = |area_km2 = |parent =Queen Maud Mountains |range_coordinates = |range_coordinates_note = |map =Antarctica |map_alt = |map_caption = Watson Escarpment () is a major escarpment in the Queen Maud Mountains, trending northward along the east margin of Scott Glacier, then eastward to Reedy Glacier where it turns southward along the glacier's west side. Somewhat arcuate, the escarpment is nearly 100 nmi long, rises 3,550 m above sea level, and 1,000 to above the adjacent terrain.

Discovery and naming

The north-central part of the escarpment was observed from a vantage point on Supporting Party Mountain and was partially mapped in December 1929 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party under Laurence Gould. The escarpment was more closely observed in December 1934 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party under Quin Blackburn, and was named by Byrd for Thomas J. Watson, American business executive, a patron of this expedition. The escarpment and its related features was mapped in detail by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1960–64.

Topology

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/C86135s1_Ant.Map_Mount_Blackburn.jpg" caption="Western end of Watson Escarpment in northwest of map"] ::

The western end of the Watson Escarpment is a massif to the northeast of the point where the Van Reeth Glacier joins the Scott Glacier. The tip of the massif holds Mount Czegka, Acarospora Peak and Dunn Spur. To the north are Mount Russell, Mount Blackburn and Parker Bluff. To the north of Mount Blackburn the Long Valley leads to the head of Griffith Glacier, which is separated from Howe Glacier by Mount Meeks and Skilift Col. Mount Riley and Roaring Ridge are east of Long Valley.

The Watson Escarpment continues east along the rim of the California Plateau past Beacon Dome and Mount Warden. It continues below Maaske Dome and above Evans Butte. To the east of Mount Beazley there is a gap in the escarpment through which the Leverett Glacier flows north towards the Ross Ice Shelf. The escarpment continues east past McLean Peak along the north rim of Stanford Plateau. It passes Phleger Dome and Mount Doumani along the upper reaches of the Kansas Glacier, and passes Foreman Peak and Dzema Peak to the north of Johns Glacier. At its eastern end it passes Cole Peak to its south, and includes Mount Ratliff and Mount O'Neill.

Most of the features along the escarpment were mapped by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from ground surveys and United States Navy air photos between 1960 and 1964.

Western massif features

Mount Czegka

Acarospora Peak

Dunn Spur

Mount Russell

Mount Blackburn

Parker Bluff

Schmidt Peak

Long Valley

Mount Meeks

Skilift Col

Mount Riley

Roaring Ridge

Central escarpment features

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/C85135s1_Ant.Map_Leverett_Glacier.jpg" caption="Watson Escarpment extends across south of map"] ::

Features along the central escarpment, from west to east, are:

California Plateau

Beacon Dome

Mount Warden

Hunt Spur

Maaske Dome

Mount Beazley

McLean Peak

Stanford Plateau

Phleger Dome

Lowe Bluff

Mount Analogue

Mount Doumani

Foreman Peak

Dzema Peak

Cole Peak

Mount Ratliff

Mount O'Neil

Eastern end

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/C86120s1_Ant.Map_Caloplaca_Hills.jpg" caption="Eastern part of the escarpment to the northwest"] ::

Cleveland Mesa

Mink Peak

Shapley Ridge

Kivi Peak

Michigan Plateau

Teller Peak

Burlock Peak

Mount Simsarian

Roberts Ridge

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=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C85135s1_Ant.Map_Leverett_Glacier.jpg |accessdate=2023-12-28 |title=Leverett Glacier |publisher=USGS: United States Geological Survey |ref= }}
• {{citation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C86135s1_Ant.Map_Mount_Blackburn.jpg |accessdate=2023-12-27 |title=Mount Blackburn |publisher=USGS: United States Geological Survey |ref= }}

::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. ::