Citizendia
Your Ad Here

Raoul Island from space
Raoul Island from space

The Kermadec Islands are an island arc in the South Pacific Ocean. A volcanic arc is a chain of volcanic islands or Mountains formed by Plate tectonics as an oceanic Tectonic plate subducts under The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions The islands have been part of New Zealand since 1887. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Year 1887 ( MDCCCLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

The islands lie within 29° to 31. 5° south latitude and 178° to 179° west longitude, 800 – 1000 km northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. The Kingdom of Tonga is an Archipelago in the south Pacific Ocean comprising 169 islands 36 of them inhabited stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 miles The centre of the Kermadec Islands group is located at approximately 29°16′37″S 177°55′24″W / -29.27694, -177.92333 .

Contents

Geography

The group includes four main islands (three of them might be considered island groups, because the respective main islands have smaller islands close by) and some isolated rocks, which are, from North to South:

Seamounts North and South of the Kermadec Islands are an extension of the ridge running from Tonga to New Zealand (see Geology). A seamount is a Mountain rising from the Ocean Seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface ( Sea level) and thus is not an Island The Kingdom of Tonga is an Archipelago in the south Pacific Ocean comprising 169 islands 36 of them inhabited stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 miles New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Kermadec Islands are an Island arc in the South Pacific Ocean.

The total area of the islands is 33. 08 km². The islands are uninhabited, except for the permanently manned Raoul Island Station, a government meteorological and radio station and hostel for Department of Conservation officers and volunteers that has been maintained since 1937 on the northern terraces of Raoul Island, about 50 m in elevation above the cliffs of Fleetwood Bluff. Raoul Island Station represents the northernmost outpost of New Zealand.

The climate of the islands is subtropical, with a mean monthly temperature of 22. The subtropics are the zones of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropic zone which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of 4 °C in February and a mean monthly temperature of 16. 0 °C in August. Rainfall is approximately 1,500 mm annually, with lower rainfall from October through January.

Geology

The islands are a volcanic island arc, formed at the convergent boundary where the Pacific Plate subducts under the Indo-Australian Plate. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the A volcanic arc is a chain of volcanic islands or Mountains formed by Plate tectonics as an oceanic Tectonic plate subducts under In Plate tectonics, a convergent boundary – also known as a convergent plate boundary or a destructive plate boundary – is an actively deforming region The Pacific Plate is an oceanic Tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean. The Indo-Australian Plate is a major Tectonic plate that includes the continent of Australia and surrounding Ocean, and extends northwest to include the The subducting Pacific Plate created the Kermadec Trench, an 8 km deep submarine trench, to the east of the islands. The Kermadec trench is one of Earth's deepest Oceanic trenches reaching a depth of 10047 m The oceanic trenches are hemispheric-scale long but narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor The islands lie along the undersea Kermadec Ridge, which runs southwest from the islands towards the North Island of New Zealand and northeast towards Tonga (Kermadec-Tonga Arc). The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island The Kingdom of Tonga is an Archipelago in the south Pacific Ocean comprising 169 islands 36 of them inhabited stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 miles The four main islands are the peaks of volcanoes that rise high enough from the seabed to project above sea level. There are several other volcanoes in the chain that do not reach sea level, but form seamounts with between 65 and 1500 m of water above their peaks. A seamount is a Mountain rising from the Ocean Seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface ( Sea level) and thus is not an Island Monowai Seamount, with a depth of 120 m over its peak, is midway between Raoul Island and Tonga. Monowai is a volcanic Seamount to the north of New Zealand. It is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kermadec volcanic arc; the last validated 100 km south of L'Esperance Rock is the little-explored Star of Bengal Bank, probably with submarine volcanoes. Further south are the South Kermadec Ridge Seamounts, the southernmost of which, Rumble IV Seamount, is just 150 km North of North Island of New Zealand. The ridge eventually connects to White Island in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty, at the northern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone. White Island can refer to In Europe: ( White Island) Eilean Bàn, Scotland ( White Island) Kvitøya, Norway History According to local Māori traditions, the Bay of Plenty was the landing point of several migration canoes that brought Māori settlers to New Zealand The Taupo Volcanic Zone is a highly active volcanic area in the North Island of New Zealand. The islands experience many earthquakes from plate movement and volcanism. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth 's crust that creates Seismic waves Earthquakes are recorded with a Seismometer

Raoul and Curtis are both active volcanoes. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the The volcanoes on the other islands are currently inactive, and the smaller islands are the eroded remnants of extinct volcanoes.

Kermadec Islands subtropical moist forests

The Kermadec scalyfin - part of a rich marine biota at the Kermadecs
The Kermadec scalyfin - part of a rich marine biota at the Kermadecs

The islands are recognized by ecologists as a distinct ecoregion, the Kermadec Islands subtropical moist forests. An ecoregion ( ecological region) sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area smaller than a "realm" or " They are a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion, part of the Oceania ecozone. Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF also known as tropical moist forests, are a Tropical and Subtropical Forest Oceania is the smallest of the world's terrestrial Ecozones and unique in not including any Continental land mass The forests are dominated by the red-flowering Metrosideros kermadecensis, related to the Pōhutukawa (M. Metrosideros kermadecensis, commonly called the ( Kermadec pōhutukawa) is an evergreen Tree of the Myrtle family which is endemic The Pōhutukawa ( Metrosideros excelsa) is a coastal evergreen Tree of the Myrtle family that produces a brilliant display of red flowers made up of excelsa) of New Zealand. The islands have no native land mammals, but were home to vast numbers of seabirds which nested among the forests. Seabirds are Birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment

Flora

Kermadec islands are home to 113 native species of vascular plants, of which 23 are endemic, along with mosses (52 native species), lichens and fungi (89 native species). Vascular plants (also known as tracheophytes or higher plants) are those Plants that have lignified tissues for conducting Endemism is the Ecological state of being unique to a place Endemic species are not naturally found elsewhere Most of the plant species are derived from New Zealand, with others from the tropical Pacific.

Dense subtropical forests cover most of Raoul, and formerly covered Macauley. Metrosideros kermadecensis is the dominant forest tree, forming a 10 – 15 meter high canopy. An endemic Nikau Palm (Rhopalostylis cheesemanii) is another important canopy tree. For the genus Rhopalostylis Klotzsch ex Baill, of the family Euphorbiaceae, see its current synonym Dalechampia For the genus Rhopalostylis Klotzsch ex Baill, of the family Euphorbiaceae, see its current synonym Dalechampia The forests had a rich understory of smaller trees, shrubs, ferns, and herbs, including Myrsine kermadecensis; Lobelia anceps, Poa polyphylla, Coprosma acutifolia, and Coriaria arborea. Myrsine is a genus of flowering plants the nominate genus of the family Myrsinaceae. Lobelia is a Genus of Flowering plant comprising 360–400 species with a subcosmopolitan distribution primarily Poa is a Genus of about 500 Species of grasses native to the temperate regions of both hemispheres Coprosma is a genus of about 90 species that are found in New Zealand (45 spp Hawaii (c Coriaria is the sole genus in the family Coriariaceae. It includes about 30 species of Subshrubs Shrubs and small Trees with a Two endemic tree ferns, Cyathea milnei and the rare and endangered Cyathea kermadecensis, are also found in the forests. The order Cyatheales is a Taxonomic division of the Fern subclass Cyatheatae, which includes the tree ferns. Cyathea kermadecensis is a species of tree fern endemic to Raoul Island in the Kermadec Islands, where it is locally common in

Areas near the seashore and exposed to salt spray are covered by a distinct community of shrubs and ferns, notably Myosporum obscurum, Coprosma petiolata, Asplenium obtusatum, Cyperus ustulatus, Disphyma australe, and Scirpus nodosus. Asplenium is a Genus of about 700 Species of Ferns often treated as the only genus in the family Aspleniaceae, though Cyperus is a large Genus of about 600 Species of sedges distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions Disphyma is a monotypic genus of succulent shrubs Commonly known as Round-leaved Pigface, it occurs in South Africa, Australia and

152 non-native species of plants introduced by humans have become established on the islands.

History

Polynesian people settled the Kermadec Islands in around the fourteenth century (and perhaps previously in the tenth century), but when Europeans reached the area in 1788 they found no inhabitants. Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a Subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over Year 1788 ( MDCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap The islands were named for the French captain Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec, who visited the islands as part of the d'Entrecasteaux expedition in the 1790s. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec was an 18th century French navigator Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni D'Entrecasteaux (1739&ndash 21 July, 1793) was a French navigator who explored the Australian coast in 1792 while seeking European settlers and whalers lived on the islands from the early nineteenth century until 1937. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Since then, a government meteorological and radio station and hostel for Department of Conservation officers and volunteers have been maintained on Raoul Island.

Conservation

Introduced cats, rats, and goats devastated the forests and seabirds. WikipediaManual of Style (spelling, articles should conform to one overall spelling style of English typically the one most linked to the article topic (if it is geographic Rats are various medium sized long-tailed Rodents of the superfamily Muroidea The domestic goat ( Capra aegagrus hircus) is a subspecies of goat Domesticated from the Wild goat of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe Overgrazing by goats eliminated the forests of Macauley Island, leaving open grasslands, and altered the understory of Raoul Island. Predation by rats and cats reduced the seabird colonies on the main islands from millions of birds to tens of thousands. The New Zealand government has been working for the last few decades to restore the islands. New Zealand declared the islands a nature reserve in 1937, and the sea around them a marine reserve in 1990. nature reserve ( natural reserve, nature preserve, natural preserve) is a Protected area of importance for Wildlife, flora Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. New Zealand has a total of thirty two Marine reserves spread around the North, the South Island and neighbouring islands and another two on outlying island Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) Goats were removed from Macauley in 1970 and from Raoul in 1984, and the forests have begun to recover. The islands are still known for their bird life, and seabird colonies presently inhabit offshore islets, which are safe from introduced rats and cats. Efforts are currently underway to remove the rats and cats from the islands, as well as some of the invasive exotic plants.

Visits to the islands are restricted by the Department of Conservation. The Department allows visits to Raoul by volunteers assisting in environmental restoration or monitoring projects, and other visitors engaged in nature study. Visits to the other islands are generally restricted to those engaged in scientific study of the islands.

2006 Earthquake

On May 16, 2006 at 22:39 hours, NZDT, a 7. Events 1204 - Baldwin IX Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. History On 2 November 1868, New Zealand officially adopted a standard time to be observed nationally and was perhaps the first country to do so 6 earthquake hit the region and was felt as far away as Christchurch. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth 's crust that creates Seismic waves Earthquakes are recorded with a Seismometer

References

  1. ^ Chart NZ 2225, Hydrographic Office, Royal New Zealand Navy, 1994. Accessed 2007-05-07. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses

See also

External links


The 2007 Tonga Earthquake occurred on 9 December 2007 at 202824 local time (072824 UTC
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic