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Ponta Dos Rosais
Ponta dos Rosais (''Rosais Point'', or literally, ''Point of the Rosaries'') is a promontory located along the northwestern coast of the parish of Rosais, municipality of Velas, on the island of São Jorge in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. Geography Ponta dos Rosais is situated above sea level on the extreme northwestern tip of the island of São Jorge. The waters around Ponta dos Rosais consist of an oceanic plateau known as Baixa da Ponta dos Rosais: this plateau extends out north-northwest from the promontory. The islands of Faial, Pico, and Graciosa are often visible from Ponta dos Rosais. Faial and Pico are located approximately from Ponta dos Rosais. On the promontory stands the isolated, mid-century Nationalist lighthouse complex of Ponta dos Rosais. Ponta dos Rosais and the surrounding area are within a locally protected area of the Azores known as the ''Monumento Natural da Ponta dos Rosais'' (Ponta dos Rosais Natural Monument), a nature reserve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Velas, Azores
Velas () is a municipality in the São Jorge Island, in the Portuguese autonomous region of Azores. The municipality encompasses the western portion of the island, with its municipal seat in the town of Velas on the south coast, and is divided into six parishes. The population in 2011 was 5,398, in an area of 117.38 km². History The origin of the name ''Velas'' has never been clarified by historians, although it may refer to the number of sailing ships that congregated in the municipality (''"velas"'' is Portuguese for sails), but may also refer to the ''"sails"'' of the windmills that populated the municipality during early settlement. There may also been confusing in the similarity between ''velas'', the word ''velhas'' (which means ''"old"'' in Portuguese) or ''"belas"'' (which means ''"beautiful"'', in the same language). Another reference is to the Portuguese term ''"vilar"'', which means vigilant, and may have been used to situation in the Canal, where residents were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for purposes of conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. They may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park. Various jurisdictions may use other terminology, such as ecological protection area or private protected area in legislation and in official titles of the reserves. History Cultural practices that roughly equate to the establishment and maintenance of reserved areas for animals date bac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roseate Tern
The roseate tern (''Sterna dougallii'') is a species of tern in the family Laridae. The genus name ''Sterna'' is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and the specific ''dougallii'' refers to Scottish physician and collector Dr Peter McDougall (1777–1814). "Roseate" refers to the bird's pink breast in breeding plumage. Taxonomy English naturalist George Montagu described the roseate tern in 1813. Genetically, it is most closely related to the white-fronted tern (''S. striata''), with their common ancestor a sister lineage to the black-naped tern (''S. sumatrana''). This species has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in bill colour and minor plumage details. ''S. d. dougallii '' breeds on the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America, and winters south to the Caribbean and west Africa. Both the European and North American populations have been in long term decline, though active conservation measures have reversed the decline in the last few years at som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Tern
The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a black cap, orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed bill. Depending on the subspecies, the bill may be mostly red with a black tip or all black. There are several similar species, including the partly sympatric Arctic tern, which can be separated on plumage details, leg and bill colour, or vocalisations. Breeding in a wider range of habitats than any of its relatives, the common tern nests on any flat, poorly vegetated surface close to water, including beaches and islands, and it readily adapts to artificial substrates such as floating rafts. The nest may be a bare scrape in sand or gravel, but it is of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Shearwater
The little shearwater (''Puffinus assimilis'') is a small shearwater in the petrel family Procellariidae. Despite the generic name, it is unrelated to the puffins, which are auks, the only similarity being that they are both burrow-nesting seabirds. Description This shearwater has the typically "shearing" flight of the genus, dipping from side to side on stiff wings with few beats, the wingtips almost touching the water, though in light winds it has a more flapping flight than that of its larger relatives. In flight it looks cross-shaped, with its wings held at right angles to the body, its colouration changing from black to white as the black upperparts and white underparts are alternately exposed as it travels low over the sea. At in length with a wingspan, it is like a small Manx shearwater but has proportionally shorter and broader wings, with a pale area on the inner flight feathers. Its bill is more slender than that of Manx, and its dark eye stands out against the surr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cory's Shearwater
Cory's shearwater (''Calonectris borealis'') is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially of rocky islands in the eastern Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with Scopoli's shearwater. Taxonomy Cory's shearwater was formally described in 1881 by the American ornithologist Charles B. Cory from a specimen collected off Chatham Island, Massachusetts. He coined the binomial name ''Puffinus borealis''. Cory's shearwater is now placed in the genus ''Calonectris'' that was introduced in 1915 by the ornithologists Gregory Mathews and Tom Iredale. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ''kalos'' meaning "good" or "noble" with the genus name ''Nectris'' that was used for shearwaters by the German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl in 1820. The name ''Nectris'' comes from the Ancient Greek ''nēktris'' meaning "swimmer". The specific epithet ''borealis'' is Latin and means "north". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs (non-grass herbaceous plants). Pasture is typically grazed throughout the summer, in contrast to meadow which is ungrazed or used for grazing only after being mown to make hay for animal fodder. Pasture in a wider sense additionally includes rangelands, other unenclosed pastoral systems, and land types used by wild animals for grazing or browsing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are distinguished from rangelands by being managed through more intensive agricultural practices of seeding, irrigation, and the use of fertilizers, while rangelands grow primarily native vegetation, managed with extensive practices like co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyroclast
Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they remain as tephra unless hot enough to fuse into pyroclastic rock or tuff. Tephrochronology is a geochronological technique that uses discrete layers of tephra—volcanic ash from a single eruption—to create a chronological framework in which paleoenvironmental or archaeological records can be placed. When a volcano explodes, it releases a variety of tephra including ash, cinders, and blocks. These layers settle on the land and, over time, sedimentation occurs incorporating these tephra layers into the geologic record. Often, when a volcano explodes, biological organisms are killed and their remains are buried within the tephra layer. These fossils are later dated by scientists to determine the age of the fossil and its place within the geolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial planet, rocky planet or natural satellite, moon. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt. Rapid-cooling, fine-grained basalt is chemically equivalent to slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro. The eruption of basalt lava is observed by geologists at about 20 volcanoes per year. Basalt is also an important rock type on other planetary bodies in the Solar System. For example, the bulk of the plains of volcanism on Venus, Venus, which cover ~80% of the surface, are basaltic; the lunar mare, lunar maria are plains of flood-basaltic lava flows; and basalt is a common rock on the surface of Mars. Molten basalt lava has a low viscosity due to its relatively low silica content (between 45% and 52%), resulting in rapidly moving lava flo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fajã
() is a Portuguese term of obscure origin used to describe supratidal talus at the foot of coastal cliffs, caused by landslides or lava flows.G. Lameiras et al. (2009), p.827 Although relatively common world-wide, they are distinctive features of the Azores and Madeira, as well as of the Canary Islands, where the equivalent term in Canarian Spanish is (). The term also designates a small flat piece of land, generally cultivable and located by the sea, formed of materials fallen from cliffs. Another Canarian word for lava is , literally, "low island". Geology Fajãs are created from collapsing cliffs or lava flows and are identifiable along the coast as "flat" surfaces, relative to other geological forms. Tides and tidal currents have only minor influence on coastal morphology, and therefore sedimentation and deposits there became permanent. Composed of fertile soils, these microclimates allow the cultivation of a variety of staple and exotic plants, such as coffee. Azor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fajã Mata Sete
The Fajã Mata Sete (literally, "fajã that kills seven") is a debris field (fajã) formed over time by collapsing cliffs on the northern coast of the civil parish of Rosais, in the municipality of Velas, on the island of São Jorge in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. History Unlike many other Azorean fajãs, Fajã Mata Sete has never had a permanent human population. However, the area has several small homes and outbuildings supporting seasonal visitors. The fajã's fertility and favorable microclimate allowed cultivation of wine grapes, potatoes, corn, fruit, and taro in small garden plots. Owners of these plots would descend the cliff-face between the months of March and April to cultivate the land and return in September for the harvest. For efficiency, they pressed the wine grapes in the fajã using rudimentary stone presses: liquid wine in jugs is easier to transport than fragile and perishable grapes. On the fajã is a cave locally called ''Furna'' ("fumarole" o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosais Islets
The Rosais Islets ( pt, Ilhéus dos Rosais; literally, ''Islets of the Rosaries'') are two uninhabited rocky islets located just off the extreme northwestern coast of the island of São Jorge in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. Geography The Rosais Islets are two small, basaltic volcanic stacks located immediately off Ponta dos Rosais, the extreme northwestern point of São Jorge. The islets arise from an oceanic plateau called Baixa da Ponta dos Rosais, which itself is part of the Terceira Rift. Rosais, a civil parish within the larger municipality of Velas, is the settlement nearest the islets. Biome The waters around the Rosais Islets and Baixa da Ponta dos Rosais are biodiverse. They are home to various fish including anchovy, Atlantic bonito, Atlantic goliath grouper, bluefish, European hake, frigate tuna, longfin yellowtail, needlefish, red scorpionfish, sawfish, skipjack tuna, vadigo, and yellowmouth barracuda. Common bottlenose dolphins and logg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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