Kerguelen Islands

Kerguelen (France)
Îles Kerguelen

Basic data
Administrative status:	district
Country:	French Southern and Antarctic Lands
Capital:	Port-aux-Français
Population:	Winter: ca. 70, Summer: ca. 110
Official language:	French
Coordinates:	49°20′S 69°20′E
Area:	7,215 km²
Coastline:	2,800 km
highest peak:	Mont Ross (1,850 m)
longest Fjord:	Baie de Recques (21 km)
largest lake:	Lac Marville (25 km²)
largest islands:	Île Kerguelen / Grande Terre (6,675 km²)
largest glacier:	Cook-Gletscher Cook Glacier/ Calotte Glaciaire Cook (500 km²)
discovery:	12 February 1772, by Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec
Homepage:	www.taaf.fr

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 49°15′S 69°35′E, 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 Template:PronEng, etc.

History

The islands^, along with La Terre Adélie, the Crozet Islands, and the islands of Amsterdam and Saint Paul 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 and over-exploited the resident populations of whales and seals to the point of near extinction, these included 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 welcomed visitors such as the German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis which called at Kerguelen Islands during December 1940. During their stay the complement 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 Golfe du Morbihan on Grande Terre at 49°21′S 70°13′E 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 British journalist, Matthew Parris, during a stay while writing a column on the islands.

Grande Terre

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 is 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:

1. Courbet Peninsula
2. Péninsule Rallier du Baty
3. Péninsule Gallieni
4. Péninsule Loranchet
5. Presqu'île Jeanne d'Arc
6. Presqu'île Ronarc'h
7. Presqu'île de la Société de Géographie
8. Presqu'île Joffre
9. Presqu'île du Prince de Galles
10. Presqu'île du Gauss
11. Presqu'île Bouquet de la Grye
12. Presqu'île d'Entrecasteaux
13. Presqu'île du Bougainville
14. Presqu'île Hoche

Historic localities

Port Aux Français

Cook Glacier

There are also a number of historic localities, all on Grande Terre (see also the main map):

• Anse Betsy [Betsy Cove] (historic geomagnetic station at 49°10′S 70°13′E), on Baie Accessible [Accessible Bay], on the north coast of the Courbet Peninsula. 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. The primary goal of this station was the 1874 tracking of the Transit of Venus.
• Armor (Base Armor)
• Baie de l'Observatoire [Observatory Bay] (historic geomagnetic station at 49°21′S 70°12′E), just west of Port-Aux-Français, on the eastern fringe of the Central Plateau, along the northern shore of the Golfe du Morbihan. For the 1874 Transit of Venus, George Biddell Airy at the Royal Observatory organised and equipped five expeditions to different parts of the world. Three of these would be sent to the Kerguelen Islands. The Reverend Stephen Joseph Perry led the British expeditions to the Kerguelen Islands. He set up his chief station at Observatory Bay and two auxiliary stations, one at Thumb Peak [49°31'11".8 S, 70°10'18".1 E] led by Sommerville Goodridge, and a second at Supply Bay [49°30'47".3 S, 69 °46'13".2 E] led by Cyril Corbet. Observatory Bay was also used by the German Antarctic Expedition led by Erich Dagobert von Drygalski (1902 to 1903). In January 2007, an archeological excavation of this site was carried out.
• Cabane Port-Raymond (scientific camp at 49°20′S 69°49′E), at the head of a fjord cutting into the Courbet Peninsula from the south.
• Cap Ratmanoff (geomagnetic station at 49°14′S 70°34′E), the easternmost point of the Kerguelen's.
• La Montjoie (scientific camp at 48°59′S 68°50′E), on the south shore of Baie Rocheuse, along the northwestern coast of the archipelago.
• Molloy (Pointe Molloy), former observatory 10 km west of present day Port-Aux-Français, along the south coast of the Courbet Peninsula, northern shore of the Golfe du Morbihan (Kerguelen). An American expedition led by G. P. Ryan erected a station at this site on September 7, 1874. This station was also established to track the 1874 Transit of Venus.
• Port Bizet (seismographic station at 49°31′12″S 69°54′36″E), on the northeastern coast of Île Longue, it also serves as the principal sheep farm for the island's resident flock of Bizet sheep.
• Port Christmas (historic geomagnetic station at 48°41′S 69°03′E), on Baie de l'Oiseau, in the extreme northwest of the Loranchet Peninsula. This place was so named by James Cook, who re-discovered the islands and who anchored there on Christmas Day, 1776. This is also the place where Captain Cook coined the name "Desolation Islands" in reference to what he believed was a sterile landscape.
• Port Couvreux (formerly a whaling station, an experimental sheep farm and a geomagnetic station, at 49°17′S 69°42′E), on Baie du Hillsborough, on the southeast coast of Presqu'île Bouquet de la Grye. From 1912, sheep were bred to create an economic base for future settlement, however, the attempt failed and the last inhabitants had to be evacuated and the station abandoned in 1931.
• Port Curieuse (harbour on the west coast across Île de l'Ouest 49°22′S 68°48′E). The site was named after the ship La Curieuse, which was used by Raymond Rallier du Baty on his second visit to the islands (1913-14).
• Port Douzième (literally Twelfth Port, hut and geomagnetic station at 49°31′S 70°09′E), on the north coast of Presqu'île Ronarch, southern shore of the Golfe du Morbihan.
• Port Jeanne d'Arc (former whaling station founded by a Norwegian whaling company in 1908, and historic geomagnetic station at 49°33′S 69°49′E), in the northwestern corner of Presqu'île Jeanne d'Arc, looking across the Buenos Aires passage to Île Longue (4 km northeast). The derelict settlement consists of four residential buildings with wooden walls and tin roofs and a barn. One of the buildings was restored in 1977, and another in 2007.

Since 1963, 49°22′S 70°14′E just east of Port-aux-Français is a launch site for sounding rockets (mainly Arcas, Dragon and Eridan).

The islands

The following list the most important adjacent islands:

• Île Foch in the north of the archipelago is the largest satellite island with an area of 206.20 km². Its highest point, at 687 m, is called La Pyramide Mexicaine.
• Île Howe which lies less than one kilometre off the northern coast of Ile Foch is, at ~54.00 km², the second most important offlier in the Kerguelen's 48°50′S 69°25′E
• Île Saint-Lanne Gramont, is to the west of Île Foch in the Golfe Choiseul. It has an area of 45.80 km². Its highest point reaches 480 m (48°55′S 69°12′E).
• Île du Port, also in the north in the Golfe des Baliniers, is the third largest satellite island with an area of 43.00 km², near its centre it reaches an altitude of 340 m.
• Île de l'Ouest (west coast, about 40.00 km²)
• Île Longue (southeast, about 40.00 km² 49°32′S 69°54′E)
• Îles Nuageuses (northwest)
• Île de Castries 48°41′S 69°29′E
• Île Leygues (north)
• Île Violette 49°07′S 69°40′E
• Île aux Rennes [also known as Reindeer Island or Australia Island] (western part of the Golfe du Morbihan, area 36.70 km², altitude 199 m,)

Economy

The main activities on the Kerguelen Islands focus on scientific research -mostly earth sciences and biology- as opposed to any real economic ventures.

Since 1992, the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) operates 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 continental France) on Longue Island for consumption by the occupants of the base, as well as growing 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 department of France - who are licenced to fish within the archipelago's territorial waters.

Geology

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.

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 meters, stack on top of each other, sometimes up to a depth of 1,200 meters. 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. 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 figure out the break-up of Australia, India and Antarctica.

Flora and fauna

See main article: Flora and fauna of the Kerguelen Islands.

The Kerguelen Islands in fiction

Satellite view of the Kerguelen Islands

• In the seafaring novel Desolation Island, one of the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, the crew repairs their disabled ship on an island that strongly resembles Kerguelen, although a later book in the series asserts that it is a different Desolation Island.
• In The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Edgar Allan Poe's only complete novel, the crew of the Jane Guy alights at Kerguelen Island before eventually pushing on towards the South Pole.
• In Biggles' Second Case by W. E. Johns, Biggles searches for Nazi Gold during World War II on and around Kerguelen.
• Warbots (no. 5) Operation High Dragon involves a secret Chinese military base located on Kerguelen Island. ISBN 1-55817-159-2
• In Gundam - The 08th MS Team, the Zeon Zanzibar-class cruiser used to evacuate Ginias Sakhalin's forces from their base is named Kerguelen.
• In the Danish graphic novel Mikkeline på skattejagt (Mikkeline's Treasure Hunt) by draftsman and cartoonist Claus Deleuran, Desolation Island plays a major role in the plot. In the humorous story the active volcano Mont Ross serves as a back entrance to hell as described in The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. ISBN 87-7378-244-0
• The novel The Lost Flying Boat by Alan Sillitoe is situated around Kerguelen, though the islands' geography are not accurately described.
• The Swedish comic James Hund by Jonas Darnell & Patrik Norrmann has set at least one episode on Kerguelen, where a satanic Nazi conspiracy against the world's leaders has its seat.
• The first chapter of Jules Verne's Le Sphinx des glaces (An Antarctic Mystery) is entitled "Chapitre 1 - Les Îles Kerguelen" ("Chapter 1 - The Kerguelen Islands").
• In Patrick Robinson's Kilo Class (ISBN 0-06-109685-7), naval confrontations arise in the Kerguelen Islands between the Americans, the Chinese, and the Taiwanese.

In the novel An Inexplicable Story by Josef Skvorecky (publ.by Key Porter Books, Toronto,2002),a chapter "A Letter from Herr Rudolf Ceeh" is situated on Kerguelen Islands.It's a report by a German submarine sailor about his stay on the Kerguelens. of the Kerguelens.

See also

• French overseas departments and territories
• Administrative divisions of France
• Islands controlled by France in the Indian and Pacific oceans
• Sub-antarctic islands

External links

• Official site (In French)
• Official site (In French)
• Cartography of the Kerguelen, including a toponymy index (In French)
• Kerguelen Archipelago
• Southern & Antarctic Territories
• Columns about Kerguelen from The Times
• Personal site with a lot of pictures
• Rocket launches on the Kerguelen Islands
• South Atlantic & Subantarctic Islands site, Kerguelen Archipelago page