Balleny Islands

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Balleny Islands
Balleny Map.jpg
Map of the Balleny Islands
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Red pog.svg
Balleny Islands
Location in Antarctica
Geography
Location Antarctica
Coordinates 66°55′S163°45′E / 66.917°S 163.750°E / -66.917; 163.750
ArchipelagoBalleny Islands
Area800 km2 (310 sq mi)
Highest elevation1,705 m (5594 ft)
Highest point Brown Peak [1] [2]
Administration
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System
Demographics
PopulationUninhabited
The Balleny Islands (top) and Antarctic coast (bottom) from space, December 2007. Dark patches are ice-free sea surface. Balleny Islands and Antarctic coast.jpg
The Balleny Islands (top) and Antarctic coast (bottom) from space, December 2007. Dark patches are ice-free sea surface.

The Balleny Islands ( 66°55′S163°45′E / 66.917°S 163.750°E / -66.917; 163.750 ) are a series of uninhabited islands in the Southern Ocean extending from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E. The group extends for about 160 km (99 mi) in a northwest–southeast direction. The islands are heavily glaciated and of volcanic origin. Glaciers project from their slopes into the sea. The islands were formed by the so-called Balleny hotspot.

Contents

The group includes three main islands: Young, Buckle and Sturge, which lie in a line from northwest to southeast, and several smaller islets and rocks:

The islands are claimed by New Zealand as part of the Ross Dependency (see Territorial claims in Antarctica).

Islands and rocks from north to south

Island/RockAreaHighest peak
km2mi2mft
Young Island and satellite islets
Seal Rocks0.001549
Pillar0.0051167
Young Island 255.498.61,3404,400
(Freeman Peak)
Row Island1.70.66183600
Borradaile Island 3.51.43811,250
Beale Pinnacle0.0061200
Buckle Island and satellite islets
Buckle Island 123.647.71,2384,062
Scott Cone0.0031102
Eliza Cone0.0067220
Chinstrap Islet0.00
Sabrina Island 0.20.07790300
The Monolith0.10.03979259
Sturge Island (no satellite islets)
Sturge Island 437.4168.91,705 [1] or
1524 [2] 		5,594 or
5,000
(Brown Peak)

The islands' area totals 400 km2 (154 sq mi) and the highest point has been measured as 1,705 m (5,594 ft) [1] or approximately 1,500 m (5,000 ft) [2] (the unclimbed Brown Peak on Sturge Island).

The Antarctic Circle is close to Borradaile Island, in the eight-kilometre channel between Young and Buckle Islands. Buckle Island and the nearby Sabrina Island is home to several colonies of Adelie and chinstrap penguins.

Recorded human visits to the islands

The English sealing captains John Balleny and Thomas Freeman first sighted the group in 1839. [3] Balleny named the island group after himself and the individual islands after the London merchants whose financial backing had made the expedition possible. Freeman was the first person to land on any of the islands on 9 February 1839, and this was the first human landfall south of the Antarctic Circle.

Sealers sighted the islands in 1853 but did not land. [4]

In February 2015 the islands were visited for three days by the New Zealand-Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage under the auspices of the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research aboard the vessel RV Tangaroa, with the objective of studying marine life ecosystems of the islands, especially with reference to the humpback whale. [5] This work followed up work done on a previous visit in 2010.

On 3 February 2017, personnel from the Swiss Polar Institute's Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition visited the islands and carried out considerable photographic and video survey work which was intended to contribute to the first accurate mapping of the main islands. [6] Most of the work was done by helicopter, although at least one landfall was also made on the islands by this expedition, using Zodiac inflatable boats.

Geology

In the archipelago, the Buckle, Sturge and Young Islands are examples of stratovolcanoes. [7] Strong earthquakes very close to the islands are rare, but tremors of moderate strength do occur over the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge, Macquarie triple junction and Pacific Rim between the Balleny Islands and Macquarie Island. [8] Other earthquakes occur near the Southeast Indian Ridge and Balleny fracture zone, including a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in 1998 that struck just over 700 km (430 mi) west-northwest of the islands [9] which changed the pattern of seismicity in a wide area around the islands. [10]

It is possible that these islands are still volcanically active. The Brown Peak volcano may have had an eruption in 2001, based on satellite observation. [11]

Submerged features

Several underwater features lie close to the Balleny Islands:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown Peak (Sturge Island)</span> Mountain in Ross Dependency, Antarctica

Brown Peak is a stratovolcano and the highest point of the Balleny Islands. It is situated on the northern part of Sturge Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sturge Island</span> Island of Antarctica

Sturge Island is one of the three main islands in the uninhabited Balleny Islands group located in the Southern Ocean. It lies 25 km (16 mi) southeast of Buckle Island and 95 km (59 mi) north-east of Belousov Point on the Antarctic mainland. The island, in Oates Land, also forms part of the Ross Dependency, claimed by New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter I Island</span> Norwegian island in Antarctica

Peter I Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Bellingshausen Sea, 450 kilometres (240 nmi) from continental Antarctica. It is claimed as a dependency of Norway and, along with Bouvet Island and Queen Maud Land, composes one of the three Norwegian dependent territories in the Antarctic and Subantarctic. The island measures approximately 11 by 19 kilometres, with an area of 156 km2 (60 sq mi); its highest point is the ultra-prominent, 1,640-metre-tall (5,380 ft) Lars Christensen Peak. Nearly all the island is covered by a glacier, and it is surrounded most of the year by pack ice, making it inaccessible during these times. There is little vertebrate animal life on the island, apart from some seabirds and seals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ring of Fire</span> Region around the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur

The Ring of Fire is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamaʻehuakanaloa Seamount</span> Active submarine volcano off the southeast coast of the island of Hawaii

Kamaʻehuakanaloa Seamount is an active submarine volcano about 22 mi (35 km) off the southeast coast of the island of Hawaii. The top of the seamount is about 3,200 ft (975 m) below sea level. This seamount is on the flank of Mauna Loa, the largest active subaerial shield volcano on Earth. Kamaʻehuakanaloa is the newest volcano in the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, a string of volcanoes that stretches about 3,900 mi (6,200 km) northwest of Kamaʻehuakanaloa. Unlike most active volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean that make up the active plate margins on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Kamaʻehuakanaloa and the other volcanoes of the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain are hotspot volcanoes and formed well away from the nearest plate boundary. Volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands arise from the Hawaii hotspot, and as the youngest volcano in the chain, Kamaʻehuakanaloa is the only Hawaiian volcano in the deep submarine preshield stage of development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vindication Island</span> Island in the South Sandwich Islands

Vindication Island is a small uninhabited island of the Candlemas Islands in the South Sandwich Islands. It is one of about a dozen islands that make up the South Sandwich island arc, a chain of volcanoes in the Southern Ocean that was discovered in 1775 by James Cook. The volcanism is caused by the subduction of the South American Plate beneath the Sandwich Plate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand Subantarctic Islands</span> Southernmost parts of the South Pacific country

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridgeman Island (South Shetland Islands)</span> Island in Antarctica

Bridgeman Island is one of the South Shetland Islands in Antarctica. It is an almost circular, volcanic island marked by steep sides, measuring 900 by 600 metres with a maximum elevation of 240 m (787 ft) high, lying 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of King George Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buckle Island</span> Mountain in Ross Dependency, Antarctica

Buckle Island is one of the three main islands in the uninhabited Balleny Islands group located in the Southern Ocean. It lies 25 km (16 mi) north-west of Sturge Island and 8 km (5 mi) south-east of Young Island, some 110 km (68 mi) north-north-east of Belousov Point on the Antarctic mainland. The island forms some parts of the Ross Dependency, claimed by New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Young Island</span> Island of the Balleny Islands in Antarctica

Young Island is the northernmost and westernmost of the three main islands in the uninhabited Balleny Islands group located in the Southern Ocean. It lies 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) northwest of Buckle Island, some 115 kilometres (71 mi) north-northeast of Belousov Point on the Antarctic mainland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penguin Island (South Shetland Islands)</span> Small island of the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica

Penguin Island is one of the smaller of the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabrina Island (Antarctica)</span>

Sabrina Island is the largest of three small islets lying 1.5 km (0.93 mi) south of Buckle Island in the Balleny Islands of Antarctica and are part of New Zealand's Ross Dependency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two Hummock Island</span> Island in Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica

Two Hummock Island is an ice-covered island, 5 nautical miles long in a north–south direction, conspicuous for its two rocky summits 670 metres (2,200 ft) high, lying 5 nautical miles southeast of Liège Island in the Palmer Archipelago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrolabe Island</span> Island in Graham Land, Antarctica

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orca Seamount</span> Underwater volcano near King George Island in Antarctica, in the Bransfield Strait.

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Borradaile Island is one of the Balleny Islands. It was the site of the first landing south of the Antarctic Circle, and features the "remarkable pinnacle" called Beale Pinnacle, near Cape Beale on its south-eastern coast, and Cape Scoresby on its north-western coast.

Sjögren Glacier is a glacier 15 nautical miles long in the south part of Trinity Peninsula, Antarctica. It flows southeast from Detroit Plateau to the south side of Mount Wild, where it enters Prince Gustav Channel.

In the afternoon of Wednesday 25 March 1998, a very large magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck a remote area of the Southern Ocean. Its epicentre was located roughly 450 km (280 mi) north of George V Land and roughly 700 km (435 mi) northwest of the Balleny Islands in Antarctica. Due to the remote location of the earthquake, there were no reports of anyone feeling any shaking or any damage being caused. The event was a complex intraplate earthquake within the Antarctic plate. To date it is the largest recorded earthquake in Antarctica, and is the largest recorded earthquake to have been caused by post-glacial rebound. The earthquake occurred in an area which previously had very little seismic activity, and so such a large event was unprecedented in the seismic record.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saunders Island, South Sandwich Islands</span> British island in the southern Atlantic

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montagu Island</span> Largest of the South Sandwich Islands

Montagu Island is the largest of the South Sandwich Islands, located in the Scotia Sea off the coast of Antarctica. Almost entirely ice-covered with only sparse rocky outcrops, Montagu consists of a large caldera with a large parasitic cone, Mount Oceanite. Several secondary volcanic cones have formed in the caldera, including Mount Belinda.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Brown Peak, Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. US source.
  2. 1 2 3 Brown Peak, Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. NZ source.
  3. ↑ Faure, Gunter; Mensing, Teresa M. (2010). The Transantarctic Mountains: Rocks, Ice, Meteorites and Water. New York: Springer. p. 555. ISBN   978-1-4020-8406-5.
  4. ↑ R.K. Headland (ed.) Historical Antarctic sealing industry, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, 2018, p.169 ISBN   978-0-901021-26-7
  5. ↑ "Balleny Islands humpback research success". National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  6. ↑ "Mapping Balleny Islands". Swiss Polar Institute Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition. 6 February 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  7. ↑ GVP, Smithsonian. "Volcanoes of Antarctica – Antarctica and South Sandwich Islands". Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History Global Volcanism Program. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  8. ↑ Earthquakes. "World Seismicity Maps: South Pole". Earthquake Hazards Program. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  9. ↑ "M 8.1 – Balleny Islands region". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  10. ↑ "Statistical analysis of seismicity in a wide region around the 1998 Mw 8.1 Balleny Islands earthquake in the Antarctic Plate". Science Direct. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  11. ↑ "Report on Sturge Island (Antarctica) – May 2001". Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network. 26 (5). Smithsonian Institution. May 2001. doi:10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN200105-390012.
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