- Roca Partida
Roca Partida (Spanish: "Broken Rock") is the smallest of the
Revillagigedo Islands inMexico , administrated by the state ofColima . It is uninhabited, with an area of 1.4Hectare s (0.014 km²) only.Like the other islands in its group, it is
volcanic in origin, but unlike San Benedicto and Socorro which are still active, Roca Partida has eroded to a piece of bare rock, devoid of terrestrial vegetation. It is some 100 m (300 ft) long and about 8 m (25 ft) wide, and rises into two peaks divided by a low-lying area - hence the name. These were some 25 and 34 m (75 and 100 ft) high in 1953 but the higher one appears to have eroded some more meters since then (see photo below). No land animals or fresh water occur on Roca Partida. [Brattstrom & Howell (1956), CMICD (2007)]A number of
seabird s breed here: [Brattstrom & Howell (1956)]
*Nazca Booby , "Sula granti"
* Northeast PacificBrown Booby , "Sula leucogaster brewsteri"
* East PacificSooty Tern , "Onychoprion fuscatus crissalis" - a doubtfully distinctsubspecies
* East PacificBrown Noddy , "Anous stolidus ridgwayi"For the former two, Roca Partida is one of the north(east)ernmost breeding sites.
Roca Partida, means more like Broken Rock rather than Divide. Broken like breaking something in several pieces. Something "Divided" doesn't necessarily mean that is "Broken". In this case the original "partida" word does not imply division.
References
* (1956): The Birds of the Revilla Gigedo Islands, Mexico. "Condor" 58(2): 107-120. doi|10.2307/1364977 [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v058n02/p0107-p0120.pdf PDF fulltext] [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/DJVU/v058n02/P0107-P0120.djvu DjVu fulltext]
* (2007): [http://altamura.ucsc.edu/pls/new/ISLA2.PUBLIC_MENU.show Plant accounts: Roca Pertida] ["sic"] . Retrieved 2007-NOV-21.External links
* [http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1010429 Photo] . Retrieved 2007-NOV-21.
* [http://solmarv.com/roca_partida.html Information page with map]
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