Flint Ridge

For the place in Ohio (USA), see Flint Ridge State Memorial. For the community in California, see Flintridge.

Flint Ridge (77°31′S 163°2′E) is a north-south trending ridge with a summit elevation of 995 metres (3,264 ft) in the Asgard Range of Victoria Land, Antarctica. Flint Ridge was named by US-ACAN for Lawrence A. Flint, manager of the USARP Berg Field Center at McMurdo Station in 1972. A standard USGS survey tablet stamped "Flint ET 1971-72" was fixed in a rock slab atop this ridge by the USGS Electronic Traverse, 1971-72.^[1]

Flint Ridge
Asgard Range
Geography
Continent	Antarctica
Region	Victoria Land
Range coordinates	77°31′S 163°2′E

Location

Flint Ridge in the east end of Asgard Range, south of center

Flint Ridge is immediately north of Commonwealth Glacier.^[1] Mount Coleman is to the east, Mount Falconer to the south and Mount McLennan to the west. To the northwest Loftus Glacier flows northeast into the Wilson Piedmont Glacier.^[2]

Features

Sagittate Hill

77.510611°S 162.954645°E / -77.510611; 162.954645 A hill with much exposed rock rising to 850 metres (2,790 ft) high at the west side of Flint Ridge. Named descriptively by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) (1997) from the shape of the hill which is suggestive of an arrowhead, or the characteristic leaf form.^[3]

Noxon Cliff

77.528156°S 163.085353°E / -77.528156; 163.085353 An E-W trending cliff at the south end of Flint Ridge. The cliff encloses the north flank of Commonwealth Glacier where it rises from 50 to 150 metres (160 to 490 ft) high above the glacier. Named by US-ACAN (1997) after John F. Noxon, who pioneered the technique of visible spectroscopy for measurements of stratospheric trace gases, particularly nitrogen dioxide. By 1975, he began making measurements of nitrogen dioxide column as a function of latitude, and was surprised to discover an abrupt decrease in the amounts in Arctic air as compared to values observed at lower latitudes. This unexpected phenomenon, width implications for later ozone depletion studies, became known as the "Noxon cliff". In 1978, Noxon sailed on RV Hero from Ushuaia, and quickly confirmed that a "cliff" in nitrogen dioxide is also found in the Antarctic atmosphere.^[4]

Dominion Hill

77.529981°S 163.153205°E / -77.529981; 163.153205 A rounded rock summit rising to about 900 metres (3,000 ft) high in the east part of Noxon Cliff. Dominion Hill bounds the north edge of Commonwealth Glacier where it descends southeastward into Taylor Valley. Named by New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) (1998) after a form of government to complement the Commonwealth (of Australia) Glacier.^[5]