Duroch Islands
| Duroch Islands | ||
|---|---|---|
| Waters | Bransfield Street | |
| Geographical location | 63 ° 18 ′ S , 57 ° 54 ′ W | |
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| Main island | Largo Island | |
The Duroch Islands are a group of small islands and reef rocks that extend over an area of 5 km in diameter off the north coast of the West Antarctic Trinity Peninsula . The center of the archipelago is about 1.5 km northwest of Cape Legoupil . The archipelago includes the Agurto Rock and the Silvia Rock .
The archipelago is known for its abundance of breeding sea birds , especially penguins. In 1990 3500 pairs of gentoo penguins , 800 pairs of Adelie penguins and 9400 pairs of chinstrap penguins were counted. BirdLife International therefore designates the Duroch Islands as an Important Bird Area (AQ076).
They were discovered during the Third French Antarctic Expedition (1837-1840) under the direction of Jules Dumont d'Urville . He named the largest of the islands as Rocher Duroch . The Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey , which mapped the islands in 1946, recommended extending this designation to the entire archipelago. It is named after Lieutenant Joseph-Antoine Duroch (1812-1884), a member of d'Urville's expedition on the Gabarre Astrolabe .
Web links
- Duroch Islands in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey (English)
- Duroch Islands on geographic.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Duroch Islands (AQ076) , datasheet on the BirdLife International website, accessed July 23, 2018.