Apart from wood, we will probably find crystals, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other precious stones.”.

UT Austin scientist plays major role in study of underwater "micro-continent". At this site, an astronomic and geomagnetic observatory was erected on October 26, 1874 by a German research expedition led by Georg Gustav Freiherr von Schleinitz. In a handful of fjords, the water appears greenish. The Kerguelen Islands are an overseas territory of France. These islands are so desolate that they inspired René de Semallé who made it a home for prisoners on hard labour. The following is a list of some of the most important satellite islands: The Kerguelen Islands or the Kerguelen Archipelago is a group of rocky islands in the southern Indian Ocean. The main island of the archipelago is called La Grande Terre. On these islands, several thousand kilometres from the continents of Antarctica, Africa and Australia, ravaged by storms and where nothing grows except a few local cabbages, moss, lichen, wild grasses and acaenas, there is hardly any wildlife. The coasts are covered in long strands of shiny kelp, in amidst which sea lions and sea elephants swim. In the centre of the main island, there is a succession of hills, lakes and valleys with waterfalls and icy torrents. 3400 km from Reunion Island, 4800 km from Australia and 2000 km from Antarctica, these volcanic islandc scattered across the Southern Ocean are swept relentlessly by winds and an extremely heavy swell, which shakes the foundations. Image of the Day The rocky fjords where the wind howls averaging twenty knots throughout the year and recorded up to 120 kts offer shelter to many of the sub-Antarctic species. Researchers are also of the opinion that studying more about the islands in the tundra region is likely to give them an insight into how the countries of India, Australia and Antarctica broke apart during the drifting of the Pangaea. In 1877 the French started a coal mining operation; however, this was abandoned soon after.[11]. The main island is the home of a well-established feral cat population, descended from ships' cats. In February 1772, a navigator and a … This article was most recently revised and updated by, How Stuff Works - Geography - Geography of The Kerguelen Islands. The place was named by James Cook, who discovered the islands and who anchored there on Christmas Day, 1797. The harsh winters and the dry weathers are unsuitable for human habitation, yet French scientists visit the island for research purposes.

Under the Köppen climate classification, Kerguelen's climate is considered to be an ET or tundra climate, which is technically a form of polar climate, as the average temperature in the warmest month is below 10 °C (50 °F). Erosion caused by the glacial and fluvial activity carved out the valleys and fjords; erosion also created conglomerate detrital complexes, and the plain of the Courbet Peninsula. The next day Charles de Boisguehenneuc landed and claimed the island for the French crown. Île Saint-Lanne Gramont, also in the north, is the second largest, with an area of 45.8 km². The separation of the supercontinent billions of years ago, gave rise to the Kerguelen Islands in the plateau region, cutting them off and making them isolated from the rest of the world.

In 2004 they were permanently transformed into their own entity (keeping the same name) but having inherited another group of five very remote tropical islands, les îles Éparses, which are also owned by France and are dispersed widely throughout the southern Indian Ocean. Tourists can book a cabin in the base support ship Marion Dufresne for € 8,300 per person for a double cabin, or € 16,500 for a single cabin. Located in the southern Indian Ocean roughly midway between Africa, Australia, and Antarctica, the Kerguelen Islands experience a fierce climate, with incessant, howling winds and rain or snow nearly every day. just east of Port-aux-Français was a launching site for sounding rockets, some for French (Dragon rockets), American (Arcas) or French-Soviet (Eridans) surveys, but at the end mainly for a Soviet program (M-100). Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Oceans Across the World: Fact or Fiction? Land Snow and Ice. Land They thus concluded that the plateau was a lost continent on the surface of the planet, which could have been a tropical zone once, where dinosaurs and lush green trees could have existed millions of years ago. If scientists need to go there, the ship stops near Saint Paul but nobody is permitted to set foot on land. Discovery of the Kerguelen Islands and its brief history. Not far from there, groups of whales patrol the waters… For two centuries seal hunters hunted here looking for oil and fur. It is very far away from any civilization and was discovered in 1772 by a French expedition. Together, the Kerguelen Islands are slightly larger than the state of Delaware. The highest point is the Galliéni Massif (Pic du Grand-Ross), which lies along the southern coast of the island and has an elevation of 1,850 metres (6,070 ft). The sea makes this “wildlife sanctuary” possible; the islands are located along the Antarctic Convergence Zone, where the icy waters of the Southern Ocean meet the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean. Share. At a latitude of about 49 degrees South, the islands lie in the path of the “Furious Fifties,” a belt of westerly winds that whip around the Southern Hemisphere, mostly unimpeded by land. They are among the most isolated places on Earth, located 450 km (280 mi) northwest of the uninhabited Heard Island and McDonald Islands and more than 3,300 km (2,051 mi) away from the nearest populated location. The highest point on the island is Mount Ross, which has an elevation of 1,850 meters; it is also thought to be the youngest volcanic peak on the island. Huge volcanic eruptions could have given rise to the Kerguelen Islands that rose out of the plateau from beneath the ocean surface, making it the remotest place on earth. The islands were formed over millions of years by a series of lava flows. Water [citation needed] The plateau was built by volcanic eruptions associated with the Kerguelen hotspot, and now lies on the Antarctic plate. [13] It is understood the islands have received the attention of the French military. These include penguins, seals, Kerguelen cabbages, rabbits, cats and fish. [5] In 1874–1875, British, German and U.S. expeditions visited Kerguelen to observe the transit of Venus. See more ideas about French southern and antarctic lands, Kerguelen islands, Antarctic. Portrait of Captain James Cook. Setting up base at the Port-aux-Français, scientists study geology, weather and climatic conditions, bodies of ice and environmental sciences related to the islands. [6], Soon after their discovery, the archipelago was regularly visited by whalers and sealers (mostly British, American and Norwegian) who hunted the resident populations of whales and seals to the point of near extinction, including fur seals in the 18th century and elephant seals in the 19th century. Almost three decades ago, scientists on the research vessel Joides Resolution were drilling in the Indian Ocean, when they found something extraordinary. The accumulation is of a considerable amount; basalt flows, each with a thickness of three to ten metres, stacked on top of each other, sometimes up to a depth of 1,200 metres. Bad weather blocked them and the captain of La Fortune headed back to France leaving the Gros-Ventre there. Despite being a part of pop culture, where noted writers like Edgar Allen Poe and Jules Verne have mentioned this remotest landmass in their literary works, Desolation Island or the Kerguelen Islands still remain a mystery for the rest of the world. Image of the Day

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