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2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06
Macquarie Island is a small piece of land with an area of 128 square meters. km. It is located between Australia and Antarctica in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The local territory is a surface ridge of the volcanic ridge of the same name.
The highest points of the relief are the Hamilton and Fletcher hills (about 410 meters above sea level). The island is 34 km long from north to south, has a width of 5 km, and its geological features are due to the fact that at the site of the collision of tectonic plates, a small part of the oceanic crust was literally squeezed upward from the seabed. And so it happened that the island was formed mainly by bas alt and andesitic lavas, as well as the products of their destruction as a result of erosion.
Seismic activity in this area is still very high. That is why it is forbidden to visit Macquarie Island for tourist purposes. How to get to this part of the land? Well, of course, across the ocean, having overcome more than 1.5 thousand km from the island of Tasmania. Macquarie's exact coordinates are 54°37'S. sh. and 158°51'E. e.
A littlestories
There is an assumption that Polynesians visited this place in the 13-14th centuries for temporary settlements, but no conclusive evidence of this has been found at the moment.
Officially, the island was discovered in 1810. An Australian vessel with captain F. Hasselborough engaged in whaling. During one of the flights in the southwest of the Pacific Ocean, a piece of land was discovered, which was later named Macquarie. The island is named after the then Governor General of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie.
Currently, this territory is under the jurisdiction of Australia, being its southernmost point outside the mainland, administratively part of the state of Tasmania. However, there was a time when Russia claimed it. This happened after visiting the island in 1820 by the first Russian Antarctic expedition led by F. Bellingshausen.
In 1948, a meteorological station appeared here. It was created by the Australians. The main purpose of the station is to study the mainland of Antarctica. Since 1978, Macquarie has been an island that has been officially given the status of a state reserve. And about 20 years later, since 1997, this territory was taken under its protection by a world-class institution of UNESCO. This is because the island has many unique geological and natural features.
Climate
It is very difficult to call the island a resort, as the local weather conditions are, to put it mildly, uncomfortable. Constant rains, strong winds, low temperatures - that's what awaits people,visiting Macquarie Island. The climate here is dominated by humid, subantarctic. What does this mean? First of all, sharp air masses, and rather cold ones. As a rule, the wind practically does not stop throughout the year. The average annual air temperature is about +5 °С (without extreme drops in summer and winter).
Annual rainfall is usually around 1000mm. They fall as drizzle all year round. Fogs often appear over the island, and sunlight is a rare guest here.
Plant world
Macquarie is an island with almost no vegetation. You should not expect diversity, as only a few types of grass grow here: mainly sedges, as well as endemic Macquarie cabbage. Brown algae are common in coastal waters.
Who lives on and near the island?
The fauna of the island is more diverse than the flora. The most massive colonies here are penguins, which are represented by 4 main species: royal, donkey, gentoo and endemic. Their total number approaches 4 million, and the size of a single community ranges from 500 thousand individuals to 200 pairs. Macquarie penguin (Schlegel) breeds only on this island, although adults spend a lot of time far in the ocean, feeding on small fish, krill and zooplankton. Elephant seals, fur seals, and seals settled on the coast. Albatrosses, petrels, cormorants, skuas and Antarctic terns have chosen these places for breeding. Macquarie is an island offshorean area frequented by whales, mostly in winter. In places where there is a lot of algae, you can find non-commercial fish species that gather here in large flocks.
The discoverers of the island once brought cats and rabbits here, which had negative consequences for the local nature. Already by 1890, the rare species of the Macquarie jumping parrot, which lives only here, completely disappeared. Bird nests and plants are under threat. Only in the 21st century, wildlife defenders managed to free the island from alien aliens, and now neither cats nor rabbits are left here.
Population
Of the people in this area, only scientists are constantly in the amount of 25-40 people. They work at the Macquarie Island weather station on a rotational basis. This building is located in the north of the island. Residential buildings and complexes have been built here for employees. The island is officially closed to tourists.
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