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| Archipel des Kerguelen Kerguelen Islands |
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| Motto: "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" | ||||||
| Anthem: La Marseillaise |
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Map of Kerguelen Island |
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| Capital (and largest city) | Port-aux-Français | |||||
| Official languages | French | |||||
| Government | ||||||
| - | President | Nicolas Sarkozy | ||||
| - | Administrator | Eric Pilloton | ||||
| French overseas territory | District of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands | |||||
| - | Discovery | February 1772 | ||||
| - | Port-aux-Français established | 1944 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 7,215 km² 2,786 sq mi |
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| Population | ||||||
| - | census | 70 (winter); c. 110 (summer) | ||||
| Currency | euro (EUR) |
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| Time zone | UTC+5 | |||||
| Internet TLD | .tf | |||||
| Calling code | +262 | |||||
The Kerguelen Islands or the Kerguelen Archipelago (French: commonly Îles Kerguelen or Archipel de Kerguelen but officially Archipel des Kerguelen or Archipel Kerguelen), also known as Desolation Island, is a group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean. It is a territory of France.
The Kerguelen Islands are located at , which is antipodal to the area where Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Montana meet in North America. The main island, Grande Terre, is 6,675 km² and it is surrounded by another 300 smaller islands and islets, forming an archipelago of 7,215 km². The climate is raw and chilly but not severely cold throughout the year — much like that of the outer Aleutian Islands of Alaska — with frequent high winds; and while the surrounding seas are generally rough, they remain free of ice year-round.
In English, "Kerguelen" is pronounced /ˈkɝɡɨlɨn/, etc.
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Port Aux Français
The islands, along with Adélie Land, the Crozet Islands, and the Amsterdam and Saint Paul Islands are part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands and are administered as a separate district.
They were discovered by the French navigator Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen de Trémarec in February 1772.
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. Since the end of the whaling and sealing era, most of the islands\' species have been able to re-establish themselves.
In the past, there have also been a number of expeditions that briefly visited the islands, including that of Captain James Cook in 1776. There were also less welcome visitors such as the German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis which called at Kerguelen during December 1940. During their stay the crew performed maintenance and replenished their water supplies. The ship\'s first fatality of the war came when a sailor fell while painting the funnel. He is buried in what is sometimes referred to as "the most southerly German grave" of the Second World War.
Kerguelen has been used by a small number of science teams since 1949, with a population of fifty to one hundred always present. There is also a satellite tracking station. The main island is home to a well-established feral cat population, descended from ships\' cats. They survive on sea birds and non-indigenous rabbits introduced to the islands. The islands are also known for the indigenous, edible Kerguelen cabbage.
The main base, the "capital" of the district, is located at the eastern end of the Gulf of Morbihan on Grande Terre at and is known as Port-aux-Français. Facilities include a bar, gym, hospital, library, and the chapel of Notre-Dame des Vents.
In 2000, one of the over-winterers was shot and killed in a tragic accident, an event written about by a British journalist, Matthew Parris, during a stay while writing a column on the islands. Matthew Parris\'s account of stay on Kergulen in 2000, Times (London)
Two Brothers Mountains (Monts des Deux Frères)
The main island of this archipelago is called La Grande Terre, it measures 150 km from east to west and 120 km from north to south. 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 1850 m. Towards the central western part of the island can be found another important feature, The Cook Glacier, which covers approximately 550 square kilometres. The island has numerous bays, inlets, fjords, and coves, not to mention several important peninsulas and promontories. The most important ones are listed below and indicated on the map by numbers:
Cook Glacier
There are also a number of historic localities, all on Grande Terre (see also the main map):
Since 1963, just east of Port-aux-Français is a launch site for sounding rockets (mainly Arcas, Dragon and Eridan).
The following list the most important adjacent islands:
Principal activities on the Kerguelen Islands focus on scientific research - mostly earth sciences and biology.
Since 1992, the Centre National d\'Études Spatiales (CNES) has operated a satellite tracking station which is located 4 km east of Port-aux-Français.
Agricultural activities are limited to raising sheep (approximately 3500 bizet sheep - an endangered species in metropolitan France) on Longue Island for consumption by the occupants of the base, as well as small quantities of vegetables in a greenhouse within the immediate vicinity of the base.
There are also a small number of fishing vessels, owned by fishermen on Réunion island - a departement of France - who are licensed to fish within the archipelago\'s economic zone.
Simplified geological map of the Kerguelen Islands
The Kerguelen islands form an emerged part of the submerged Kerguelen-Heard tectonic plate, which has a surface area nearing 2.2 million square kilometres. article by Roland Shlich (Research Manager at the CNRS)
The major part of the volcanic formations visible on the islands are characteristic of an effusive volcanism, which caused a trap rock formation to start emerging above the level of the ocean 35 million years ago. The accumulation is of a considerable amount; basalt flows, each with a thickness of three to ten metres, stack on top of each other, sometimes up to a depth of 1,200 metres. This form of volcanism creates a monumental relief shaped as stairs of pyramids.
Other forms of volcanism are present locally, such as the strombolic volcano Mont Ross, and the volcano-plutonic complex on the Rallier du Baty peninsular. Various veins and extrusions of lava such as trachytes, trachy-phonolites and phonolites are frequent all over the islands.
No eruptive activity has been recorded in historic times, but some fumaroles are still active in the South-West of the Grande-Terre island.
A few lignite strata, trapped in basalt flows, reveal fossilised Araucariaceae fragments, dated at about 14 million years of age.
The Glaciations caused the depression and tipping phenomena which are at the origin of the gulfs at the north and the east of the archipelago. The very pronounced erosion caused by the glacial and fluvial activity, modelled the valleys and fjords and also allowed for the creation of conglomerate detrital complexes, and the plain of the Courbet Peninsula.
The islands are part of a submerged microcontinent called the Kerguelen continent.UT Austin scientist plays major role in study of underwater "micro-continent". Retrieved on 2007-06-29 The microcontinent existed for three periods between 100 million years ago and 20 million years ago. The so-called Kerguelen continent might have had tropical flora and fauna about 50 million years ago. The Kerguelen continent finally sank 20 million years ago and is now 1 - 2 km below sea level. It has sedimentary rocks similar to the ones found in Australia and India, indicating they were once connected. Scientists hope that studying the Kerguelen continent will help them discover how Australia, India and Antarctica broke apart.Sci/Tech \'Lost continent\' discovered Retrieved on 2007-06-29
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Overseas departments and territories of France  | |
|---|---|
| Overseas departments1 | French Guiana · Guadeloupe · Martinique · Réunion |
| Overseas collectivities | French Polynesia · Mayotte2 · Saint Barthélemy · Saint Martin · Saint Pierre and Miquelon · Wallis and Futuna |
| Special status | New Caledonia |
| Uninhabited lands | Clipperton Island · French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Île Amsterdam • Île Saint-Paul • Crozet Islands • Kerguelen Islands • Adélie Land • Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean: Bassas da India3 • Europa Island3 • Glorioso Islands2, 3, 4 • Juan de Nova Island3 • Tromelin Island5) |
| 1 Also known as overseas regions. 2 Claimed by Comoros. 3 Claimed by Madagascar. 4 Claimed by Seychelles. 5 Claimed by Mauritius. | |
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