McDonald Heights is a broad, mainly snow-covered heights about 35 nautical miles (60 km) long and rising over 1,000 m between Cape Burks

Cape Burks

Cape Burks is a prominent rock cape, the northwestern seaward extension of McDonald Heights, marking the east side of the entrance of Hull Bay on the coast of Marie Byrd Land. The cape was sighted and mapped from the USS Glacier, January 31, 1962, and was named for Lieutenant Commander Ernest...

 and Morris Head

Morris Head

Morris Head is an ice-covered headland marking the seaward end of Hagey Ridge and northeast extremity of McDonald Heights, on the coast of Marie Byrd Land. The headland was photographed from aircraft of the United States Antarctic Service on December 18, 1940, and was mapped by United States...

 on the coast of Marie Byrd Land

Marie Byrd Land

Marie Byrd Land is the portion of West Antarctica lying east of the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and south of the Pacific Ocean, extending eastward approximately to a line between the head of the Ross Ice Shelf and Eights Coast. It stretches between 158°W and 103°24'W...

. The heights are bounded southward by the Hull, Kirkpatrick and Johnson Glaciers. The feature was photographed from aircraft of the United States Antarctic Service (USAS), 1939-41. It was observed and partially mapped from the USS Glacier during February 1962, and was mapped in detail by United States Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

 (USGS) in 1965. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending names for features in Antarctica...

 (US-ACAN) after Captain Edwin A. McDonald, U.S. Navy, Deputy Commander

Deputy Commander

Deputy commander was a rank in the London Metropolitan Police which existed between 1946 and 1968.In 1946, the rank of chief constable, which was between superintendent and deputy assistant commissioner, was renamed deputy commander. At the same time, the rank of deputy assistant commissioner was...

 of the U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica, in 1962, and Commander of the Task Unit that explored this coast in the Glacier in February 1962.