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| Macquarie Island |
Short Report
Macquarie Island (34 km long x 5 km wide) is an oceanic island in the Southern Ocean, is located 1,500 km south-east of Tasmania and about halfway between Australia and the Antarctic continent. The island is the visible top of the submarine Macquarie Ridge, increased to the current position of the Indo-Australian through tectonic plate meets the Pacific plate. It is a place of great geoconservation interpretation, the only place in the world where rocks from the earth mantle (6 km under the ocean floor) active be exposed to electromagnetic fields above sea-level. These unique recordings are excellent examples of pillow basalts and other extrusive rocks.
Wonderful Universal Importance
Brief synthesis
Macquarie Island is 1500 kilometers southeast of Tasmania, about halfway between Australia and Antarctica. The property has Macquarie Island, Judge and Registrar Islands 11 kilometers to the north, the Bishop and Clerk islets 37 kilometers to the south, rocks, reefs, and the surrounding waters at a distance of 12 nautical miles. The main island is approximately 34 kilometers long and 5.5 kilometers wide at its widest point, it covers an area of approximately 12,785 hectares. The property has an area of 557,280 hectares.
Macquarie Island has excellent universal value for two reasons. First, it provides a unique opportunity to study, in detail, geological characteristics and processes of oceanic crust formed and plate border dynamics, because only place on earth where rocks from the earth mantle (6 miles below the ocean floor) active be exposed to electromagnetic fields above sea level. This unique recordings are excellent examples of pillow basalts and other extrusive rocks. Secondly, the external and own windy landscape of steep slopes, lakes, and major changes in the vegetation provides a wonderful spectacle of wild nature supplemented by extensive congregations of wild animals, such as penguins and seals.
Wide Report
Macquarie Island is an oceanic island in the Southern Ocean, is located 1,500 km south-east of Tasmania and about halfway between Australia and the Antarctic continent. The island is the visible top of the submarine Macquarie Ridge, increased to the current position of the Indo-Australian through tectonic plate meets the Pacific plate. It is an area of great geostrategic importance conservation, the only place where rocks of the earth mantle (6 km under the ocean floor) active are exposed to electromagnetic fields above sea level.
It is the only island in the world is full of oceanic crust and rocks of the earth mantle deep below the surface. Macquarie Island probably began as ridge spread under the sea with the formation of new oceanic crust somewhere between 11 million and 30 million years ago. At a given moment the dissemination stopped and the crust began to compress, squeezing rocks up from deep in the mantle. If ridge grew ultimately was exposed to electromagnetic fields over the ocean surface approximately 600,000 years ago. Therefore, the rocks usually only deep in the earth sheath are exposed to the surface.
Since Macquarie Island, it has mainly been carved by marine processes such as wave, unlike other subantarctic islands, which is formed by glaciers. This unique recordings are excellent examples of pillow basalts and other extrusive rocks. The main landscape feature is a central rolling plateau 250 - 300 meters above the sea level, bounded on all sides by steep cliffs, from the mouth of stretching along a platform to 800 m wide. Glacial drift to 20 m thick includes many of the plateau and there are several lakes. The most aesthetically attractive sights of the island are the vast congregations of wild animals, in particular penguins, on suitable parts of the coast terrace, especially during spawning season.
During the breeding season on suitable beaches elephant seals also impressive colonies. Four species of albatross nest on steep, rugged cliffs, both on the main island and the nearby Bishop and Clerk Islands. The terrestrial area of Macquarie Island is a Reserve relating to the protection of the low-water mark. The marine values are protected by the Macquarie Island Marine Park declared by the Commonwealth October 28, 1999. The primary purpose of the marine park is to protect the conservation of the region of human disturbance. The marine park includes the world's largest marine highly protected zone, more than 16 million hectares.
Sealers discovered the island in 1810 and occupied the regularly during the 19th century, are you exterminating the fur seals and greatly reducing the elephant seal refuge population. In 1870 jobs came for the exploitation of the king and the royal penguin populations for oil, causing the former. The original elephant seal refuge population of approximately 100,000 animals was reduced by 70% as a result of this work. The visitors brought exotic mammals and caused the elimination of two endemic subspecies of the ground birds.
There are no permanent human inhabitants of Macquarie Island, even though the Australian Antarctic Division station is occupied all year round. The only access to the island is by the sea and there are no ports or the landing locations, ship traffic in the area is minimal.
Source:whc/unesco
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