Fernandina
Fernandina (Narborough) | ||
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Fernandina seen from the sea | ||
Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
Archipelago | Galapagos Islands | |
Geographical location | 0 ° 23 ′ S , 91 ° 31 ′ W | |
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length | 34.9 km | |
width | 27.8 km | |
surface | 642 km² | |
Highest elevation | La Cumbre 1476 m |
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Residents | uninhabited | |
Satellite image of Fernandina with the La Cumbre volcano |
Fernandina (English Narborough Island ) is the third largest of the Galapagos Islands . The island is named in honor of King Ferdinand II of Aragon , who supported Christopher Columbus' first voyage.
The original name Narborough was given to the island in 1684 by the privateer William Cowley , who visited the Galápagos archipelago on a circumnavigation (1683–1686) under William Dampier and made a first detailed map of the archipelago. He named the islands after various British kings, counts and admirals, including today's Fernandina in honor of Admiral Sir John Narborough .
Fernandina has an area of 642 km² and reaches an altitude of 1476 m in the volcanic peak of La Cumbre . Fernandina is geologically the youngest and most westerly island of the archipelago (without taking into account the very small and isolated islands of Wolf and Isla Darwin, which are located far to the north-west (140 to 180 km ).
The last eruptions of the Cumbre date from September 4, 2017, when a cloud of ash and water vapor rose and streams of lava poured along the slopes into the sea, threatening the flora and fauna, and from June 2018.
A colony of hundreds of marine iguanas can be found on the black lava rocks of the narrow headland of Punta Espinoza . The island is also populated by the endangered colobus cormorants (Galapagos shark, Phalacrocorax harrisi ), as well as by hordes of penguins , pelicans and sea lions .
Mangrove forests can be found here and there along the coast of the island .
Web links
- Fernandina in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
- Map of Fernandina
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eruption on Isla Fernandina . In: NASA , April 13, 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
- ↑ Galapagos volcano erupts, wildlife threaten Could . In: AP , April 12, 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2009.