- Balleny Islands
The Balleny Islands (coord|66|55|S|163|45|E|) form a chain of uninhabited, mainly volcanic,
island s in theSouthern Ocean stretching from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E. The group forms a chain that extends for about 160 km in a northwest-southeast direction. The islands are heavily glaciated and are of volcanic origin. Ice tongues project from their slopes into the sea. The islands were formed by theBalleny hotspot .The group contains three main islands: Young, Buckle and Sturge, which lie in a line from northwest to southeast, and several smaller islets and rocks:
*northeast of Young Island: Seal Rocks, Pillar
*southeast of Young Island: Row Island, Borradaile Island (with Swan Base, a shelter hut)
*south of Buckle Island: Scott Cone, Chinstrap Islet, Sabrina Islet (with Sabrina Refuge, a shelter hut), and The MonolithThe islands and rocks from north to south:
The
Antarctic Circle crosses very close to Borradaile Island, in the eight kilometre channel between Young and Buckle Islands. Buckle Island and the nearby Sabrina Islet are home to several colonies of Adelie andChinstrap penguin s.The English whaling captains
John Balleny and Thomas Freeman first sighted the group in 1839: Freeman was the first person to land on any of the islands onFebruary 9 1839 , and it was the first landing south of theAntarctic Circle . The islands' area totals 400 km² and the highest point reaches 1524 m (the unclimbed Brown Peak onSturge Island ).The islands form part of the
Ross Dependency , claimed byNew Zealand (see claims onAntarctica ).References
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