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Futuna Island, Wallis And Futuna
Futuna (; ) is the largest island in Hoorn Islands or Îles Horne, located in the Pacific Ocean, part of the French overseas collectivity (''collectivité d'outre-mer'') of Wallis and Futuna. The island occupies an area of and as of 2018 it has a population of 10,912. Futuna is a local name, the etymology of which is unknown. History Futuna and Alofi were first mapped by Europeans in 1616 by Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire during their circumnavigation of the globe on the ship ''Eendracht''. After sailing to Niuafoou, they suddenly changed course from west to northwest and discovered the two islands. The islands were named Hoorn Eylanden, after the city of Hoorn, Schouten's birthplace. This became ''Horne'' in French and English. They also discovered a natural harbor along the southwest coast of Futuna, which they named Eendrachts baai (Unity Bay) after their ship. It is thought that their landing place was the site of the Anse de Sigave near what is today called Leav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoorn Islands
The Hoorn Islands (also Futuna Islands, French: îles Horn) are one of the two island groups of which the French overseas collectivity (''collectivité d'outre-mer'', or ''COM'') of Wallis and Futuna is geographically composed. The aggregate area is 115 km2, and the population 4,873 (census of 2003). History The archipelago was named by the Dutch navigators Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, who, in 1616, became the first Europeans to visit the islands. They named it after the Dutch city of Hoorn, from which their expedition had started. They had previously rounded and named Cape Horn on the same voyage; Schouten had been born in Hoorn. Geography Geographically, there are two islands: * Futuna Island (in the northwest) (83 km2, pop. 4871) * Alofi Island (in the southeast) (32 km2, pop. 2) Administratively, the Hoorn Islands encompass two of Wallis and Futuna's three royal chiefdoms, namely: * Tu`a (Alo), which comprises Alofi Island and the eastern part of Futu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16th century, it had become the principal industry in the Basque coastal regions of Spain and France. The whaling industry spread throughout the world and became very profitable in terms of trade and resources. Some regions of the world's oceans, along the animals' migration routes, had a particularly dense whale population and became targets for large concentrations of whaling ships, and the industry continued to grow well into the 20th century. The depletion of some whale species to near extinction led to the banning of whaling in many countries by 1969 and to an international cessation of whaling as an industry in the late 1980s. Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest known forms of whaling date to at least 3000 BC, practiced by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2009 Samoa Earthquake And Tsunami
The 2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami took place on 29 September 2009 in the southern Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Tonga–Kermadec subduction zone. The submarine earthquake occurred in an extensional environment and had a moment magnitude of 8.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (''Strong''). It was the largest earthquake of 2009. The earthquake initiated with a normal-faulting event with a magnitude of 8.1. Within two minutes of the earthquake rupture, two large magnitude 7.8 earthquakes occurred on the subduction zone interface. The two magnitude 7.8 earthquakes had a combined magnitude equivalent to 8.0. The event can be considered a doublet earthquake. Normal and thrust faulting triggered a tsunami which caused substantial damage and loss of life in Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center recorded a rise in sea levels near the epicenter, and New Zealand scientists determined that the waves measured at their highest on the Samoan coa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lau Basin
The Lau Basin is a back-arc basin (also addressed as "interarc basin") at the Australian-Pacific plate boundary. It is formed by the Pacific plate subducting under the Australian plate. The Tonga-Kermadec Ridge, a frontal arc, and the Lau-Colville Ridge, a Back-arc region, remnant arc, sit to the eastern and western sides of the basin, respectively.Gill, J. B. 1976. "Composition and Age of Lau Basin and Ridge Volcanic Rocks: Implications for Evolution of an Interarc Basin and Remnant Arc." Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 87 (10): 1384–1395. The basin has a raised transition area to the south where it joins the Havre Trough. History Lau Basin is a young basin (much is less than 5 million years old) that separates a previously continuous island arc by Extensional tectonics, extensional rifting and spreading. During the Pliocene, the Pacific plate was subducting beneath the Australian plate. The slab of the Pacific plate melted as it was thrust down, and then rose to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiji
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about . The most outlying island group is Ono-i-Lau. About 87% of the total population live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in the capital city of Suva, or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi (where tourism is the major local industry) or Lautoka (where the Sugarcane, sugar-cane industry is dominant). The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain. The majority of Fiji's islands were formed by Volcano, volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago. Some geothermal activity still occurs today on the islands of Vanua Levu and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australia Plate
The Australian plate is or was a major tectonic plate in the eastern and, largely, southern hemispheres. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, Australia remained connected to India and Antarctica until approximately when India broke away and began moving north. Australia and Antarctica had begun rifting by and completely separated a while after this, some believing as recently as , but most accepting presently that this had occurred by . The Australian plate later fused with the adjacent Indian plate beneath the Indian Ocean to form a single Indo-Australian plate. However, recent studies suggest that the two plates may have once again split apart and have been separate plates for at least 3 million years. The Australian plate includes the continent of Australia, including Tasmania, as well as portions of New Guinea, New Zealand and the Indian Ocean basin. Scope The continental crust of this plate covers the whole of Australia, the Gulf of Carpentaria, sout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyaloclastite
Hyaloclastite is a volcanoclastic accumulation or breccia consisting of glass (from the Greek ''hyalus'') fragments (clasts) formed by quench fragmentation of lava flow surfaces during submarine or subglacial extrusion. It occurs as thin margins on the lava flow surfaces and between pillow lavas as well as in thicker deposits, more commonly associated with explosive, volatile-rich eruptions as well as steeper topography. Hyaloclastites form during volcanic eruptions under water, under ice or where subaerial flows reach the sea or other bodies of water. It commonly has the appearance of angular flat fragments sized between a millimeter to few centimeters. The fragmentation occurs by the force of the volcanic explosion, or by thermal shock and spallation during rapid cooling. Several mineraloids are found in hyaloclastite masses. Sideromelane is a basalt glass rapidly quenched in water. It is transparent and pure, lacking the iron oxide crystals dispersed in the more comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upper Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58See the 2014 version of the ICS geologic time scale million years ago (Ma). It is the second and most recent epoch of the Period in the . The Pliocene follows the Epoch and is followed by the |
Vitiaz Trench
The Vityaz Trench (also known as the Vitiaz or East Melanesian Trench) is an oceanic trench tectonic feature of the South West Pacific Ocean floor. History It is named after the Russian research vessel '' Vityaz'' that discovered it in 1958. Geography It is north east of Vanuatu with a greatest depth of but can be as shallow as . To its south east there are three discontinuous and elongated troughs called respectively the Alexa, Rotuma and Horne Troughs. They connect the Vityaz Trench via what is termed the Vitiaz Trench Lineament to the northern end of the Tonga Trench. Tectonics It was formed during the middle Neogene (activity stopped about 8 million years ago), when its location was the then convergent plate boundary between the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates. At this time the Vitiaz Arc was a continuous east-facing volcanic arc extending from the region of Tonga to the region of the Solomon Islands. Now it is inactive (i.e. fossil) but has geological import ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallis (island)
Wallis () is a Polynesian atoll/island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity (''collectivité d'outre-mer'', or ''COM'') of Wallis and Futuna. It lies north of Tonga, northeast of Fiji, east-northeast of the Hoorn Islands, east of Fiji's Rotuma, southeast of Tuvalu, southwest of Tokelau and west of Samoa. Its area is almost with 8,333 people. Its capital is Mata Utu. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion. Its highest point is Mount Lulu Fakahega (). Wallis is of volcanic origin with fertile soil and some remaining lakes. Rainfall is plentiful. It was part of the Tongan maritime empire from around the 13th to 16th century. By that time the influence of the Tui Tonga had declined so much that Uvea became important in itself. The big fortress of Talietumu close to Lotoalahi in Mua was the last holdout of the Tongans until they were defeated. The island was renamed "Wallis" after a Cornish navigator, Captain Samuel Wallis, who saw it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
