Rurutu (Austral Islands)

Administration
Commune of Rurutu
Location

Coordinates	22°27′10″S, 151°20′23″W
Country	France
Region	Collectivités d'outre-mer
Department	Polynésie française
Mayor	Frédéric Riveta
Statistics
Elevation	0 m–385 m
Land area^¹	29 km²
Population^² (2002)	2 189
- Density	75/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	98744/ 98753
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Wikipedia talkFeatured lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->This list of countries, arranged alphabetically This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. France is divided into 26 regions or régions (in French of which 21 are in continental Metropolitan France, one is the island of Corsica, The French overseas collectivities ( collectivités d'outre-mer or COM) like the French regions, themselves are first-order Administrative divisions In the context of the political and geographic organization of France and many of its former colonies a department (département depaʁtǝmɑ̃ is an Administrative division French Polynesia ( French: Polynésie française, Tahitian: Pōrīnetia Farāni) is a French Overseas collectivity in the A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning "greater" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government The elevation of a Geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point often the mean sea level. As of January 1, 2008, 64473140 people live in the French Republic. Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume The INSEE code is a numerical indexing code used by the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE to identify various entities including communes Postal codes were introduced in France in 1972, when La Poste introduced automated sorting. Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of 386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. An estuary is a semi-enclosed Coastal body of Water with one or more Rivers or Streams flowing into it and with a free connection to the open
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once. C D E

Rurutu is the northernmost island in the Austral archipelago of French Polynesia, and the name of a commune consisting solely of that island. The Austral Islands ( French: Îles Australes or Archipel des Australes) are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an French Polynesia ( French: Polynésie française, Tahitian: Pōrīnetia Farāni) is a French Overseas collectivity in the It is situated 572 km (355 miles) south of Tahiti. Tahiti is the largest Island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the Archipelago of Society Islands in the

Geologically, Rurutu was initially formed 12 million years ago by the Macdonald hotspot, a hotspot associated with the Macdonald seamount. In Geology, a hotspot is a location on the Earth's surface that has experienced active volcanism for a long period of time Over the next 10 million years, erosion shrank the island until it was almost an atoll. An atoll (pronounced /ˈætʌl/ is an island of Coral that encircles a Lagoon partially or completely Then, just over a million years ago, Rurutu passed over the Arago hotspot, which lifted it roughly 150 meters (492 ft). Steep sea cliffs of ancient coral lifted by the event — called makatea — now largely encircle the island. These are riddled with caves filled with concretions — indeed, Rurutu is largely unique among islands in French Polynesia in that its historic inhabitants were cave-dwelling. A cave is a natural underground void large enough for a human to enter A concretion is a volume of Sedimentary rock in which a Mineral cement fills the porosity (i

NASA image of Rurutu

Because it is endowed with a fringing reef, Rurutu has in recent years become known for whale watching: Humpback whales come and reproduce here between July and October within easy sighting distance from the beach. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program Coral reefs are Aragonite structures produced by living organisms found in marine waters with little to no nutrients in the water Whales are marine mammals which are neither Dolphins (ie members of the families Delphinidae or Platanistoidae) nor Porpoises Orcas The humpback whale ( Megaptera novaeangliae) is a Baleen Whale.

Although its tiny community still subsists primarily on fishing and basic agriculture, tourism has been a growing industry, especially since François Mitterrand's visit in 1990. François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand ( 26 October 1916 8 January 1996 served as President of France from 1981 to 1995 elected as representative of the Socialist Whale watching season sees the bulk of tourists, but the largely untouched native culture, the white sand beaches, and the lush tropical flora draw small numbers of tourists year-round.

See also