Pyrites Island
| Pyrites Island | ||
|---|---|---|
| Waters | Esther Harbor | |
| Archipelago | South Shetland Islands | |
| Geographical location | 61 ° 55 ′ S , 57 ° 57 ′ W | |
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Pyrites Island is the largest of three small islands off the north coast of King George Island in the archipelago of the South Shetland Islands . These are located southeast of Gam Point on the east side of Esther Harbor .
The Scottish geologist David Ferguson (1857-1936) named in the course of his exploration (1913-1914) the northern foothills of Gam Point together with the northwest or southeast of it lying island as Esther Islands , Pyritis Islands or Pyritic Islands because of the occurrence of pyrite and vein deposits of quartz . Ferguson's descriptions show that the ice cliff behind Gam Point has merged with the island in front of it since 1914 and must be viewed as part of King George Island. The UK Antarctic Place-Names CommitteeIn 1960 chose the name that is valid today in order to avoid confusion with other geographical objects in the area that have the prefix Esther .
Web links
- Pyrites Iceland in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey (English)
- Pyrites Island on geographic.org (English)