Annenkov Island

Annenkov Island
Geography
Satellite image of the island
Map showing Annenkov Island
Coordinates	54°29′S 37°5′W / 54.483°S 37.083°W / -54.483; -37.083Coordinates: 54°29′S 37°5′W / 54.483°S 37.083°W / -54.483; -37.083
Archipelago	South Georgia Islands
Length	4 mi (6 km)
Highest elevation	650 m (2,130 ft)
Administration
United Kingdom
Demographics
Population	Uninhabited

Annenkov Island is to the west of the main island of South Georgia. The Pickersgill Islands are to its southwest. It is irregularly shaped and 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 650 m (2,130 ft) high, lying 8 miles (13 km) off the south-central coast of South Georgia.

History

The island was discovered in January 1775 by a British expedition under James Cook, who named it Pickersgills Island for Lieutenant Richard Pickersgill of the expedition ship HMS Resolution. It was rediscovered in 1819 by a Russian expedition under Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen on the Vostok, who, thinking he was the discoverer of the island, named it Annenkov Island for Lieutenant Mikhail Annenkov, officer on the expedition ship. The name Pickersgill has become established for a group of islands 15 miles (24 km) to the southeast — see Pickersgill Islands.

Wildlife

A site of special scientific interest, Annenkov is one of the few rat-free islands of the South Georgia archipelago, and as Bellinghausen lamented, there is "not a single shrub nor any vegetation" on the island.

500 wandering albatross pairs breed here.

Geology

Annenkov island is a rocky island containing a number of ridges and hills. The highest point is Olstad Peak (54°29′S 37°5′W / 54.483°S 37.083°W / -54.483; -37.083 (Olstad Peak)), which rises to 650 m (2,130 ft). Olstad Peak was surveyed by the South Georgia Survey in the period 1951–57, and named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee for Ola Olstad, Norwegian zoologist, member of the Norwegian expedition under Harald Horntvedt, 1927–28, and chief scientist of the Norwegian expedition under Nils Larsen, 1928-29. The island contains a number of other rocky features, including the McPherson Crags which rise to 460 m (1,510 ft), and a number of ridges and hills such as Albatross Crest, Lawther Knoll, Pettigrew Scarp and Bareback Ridge. Also the rock pillar Spilite Arch on the northeast corner of the island.

The island also contains freshwater lakes, including Intrusion Lake (54°29′S 37°4′W / 54.483°S 37.067°W / -54.483; -37.067 (Intrusion Lake)) a 0.2 miles (0.32 km) long lake, located north-northeast of Olstad Peak in central Annenkov Island. It is mapped by the British Antarctic Survey in 1972–73 and so named because its irregular shape is controlled by several intrusions of andesite along its north shore. Additionally, the meltwater Fan Lake is located in the southeast of the island.

The island is bound by First Point in the northwest, and Rustad Bay and South West Point in the southwest. It is surrounded by reefs, including Hauge Reef and Low Reef to the east, and rocky outcroppings, including Horror Rock and Mislaid Rock to the west.

References

Stonehouse, B (ed.) Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans (2002, ISBN 0-471-98665-8)

External links

This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Annenkov Island" (content from the Geographic Names Information System).

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Capital: King Edward Point (Grytviken)

General	Coat of arms Commissioner Flag Foreign relations History Languages List of South Georgians Operation "Paraquet" South Georgia Museum .gs Sovereignty Invasion of South Georgia

Settlements / Whaling stations	Grytviken Godthul Husvik Leith Harbour Ocean Harbour Prince Olav Harbour Rosita Harbour Stromness Corbeta Uruguay base

South Georgia islands	Annenkov Island Bird Island Black Rock Black Rocks Clerke Rocks Cooper Island Grass Island Grassholm Kupriyanov Islands Pickersgill Islands Prion Island Saddle Island Shag Rocks South Georgia Trinity Island Welcome Islands Willis Islands

South Sandwich islands	Bellingshausen Bristol Candlemas Cook Leskov Montagu Saunders Thule Vindication Visokoi Zavodovski Traversay Islands

Landmarks	Admiralty Peak Allardyce Range Fortuna Glacier Gold Harbour Larsen Harbour Mount Baume Mount Belinda Mount Cunningham Mount Paget Mount Roots Peggotty Bluff Salisbury Plain Salvesen Range Southern Thule Thatcher Peninsula Grace Glacier Lucas Glacier Bay of Isles Point Abrahamsen Sheep Point Stromness Bay Cumberland Bay Possession Bay Sheer Point Busen Point

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