Bermel Escarpment

The Bermel Escarpment (85°17′S 89°30′W) is a snow and rock escarpment, 15 nautical miles (28 km) long, extending from the base of the Ford Massif to King Peak, in the Thiel Mountains. The escarpment drops 300 to 400 metres (1,000 to 1,300 ft) from the polar plateau to the ice surface north of these mountains. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Peter F. Bermel, a cartographer with the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Bermel was co-leader (with Arthur B. Ford) of the USGS Thiel Mountains party which surveyed the mountains in 1960–61, and also leader of USGS Topo East and Topo West, 1962–63, in which geodetic control was extended from the area of Cape Hallett to the Wilson Hills (Topo West), and from the foot of Beardmore Glacier through the Horlick Mountains (Topo East).