Shepard Island
| Shepard Island | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Waters | Southern Ocean | |
| Geographical location | 74 ° 25 ′ S , 132 ° 30 ′ W | |
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| length | 13 km | |
| width | 13 km | |
| surface | 120 km² | |
| Highest elevation |
Mount Colburn 522 m |
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| Residents | uninhabited | |
The Shepard Island or John Shepard Island ( English Shepard Island ) is an island that measures about 13 kilometers in diameter and is eight kilometers west of Grant Island off the coast of Marie Byrd Land . It is ice-covered everywhere except on the northern, sea-facing coast and is almost completely embedded in the Getz Ice Shelf .
The island, which reaches a height of 522 m in Mount Colburn , is of volcanic origin and formed about 1.5 million to 0.6 million years ago. The age of the youngest rocks found has been determined to be around 420,000 years. There are no signs of Holocene volcanism.
The island was discovered during the United States Antarctic Service Expedition (1939-1941) and named after John Shepard Jr. , who had supported the expedition.
Web links
- Shepard Island in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English).
- Antarctica Detail - Shepard Island in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey .
- Shepard Island, Antarctica. In: Geographical Names . Geographic.org (English).