The Géologie Archipelago, also known as the Pointe Géologie Archipelago, Geology Archipelago or Cape Geology Archipelago, is a small archipelago of rocky islands and rocks close to the north of Cape Géodésie and Astrolabe Glacier Tongue, extending from Helene Island on the west to the

Dumoulin Islands The Dumoulin Islands are a small group of rocky islands in the Antarctic region at the northeast end of the Geologie Archipelago, north of Astrolabe Glacier Tongue. On 22 January 1840, a French Antarctic expedition led by Captain Jules Dum ...

on the east, in Adélie Land,

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

History

The French expedition under Captain

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his nam ...

landed on

Débarquement Rock Débarquement Rock is an ice-free rock long and 18.7 m high, marking the northern end of the Dumoulin Islands and the north-eastern end of the Geologie Archipelago. History The French Antarctic Expedition, 1837–40, under Captain Jules Du ...

in the Dumoulin Islands on 22 January 1840. Because rock samples were obtained, they gave the name "Pointe Géologie" to a coastal feature charted as lying south of Débarquement Rock. The archipelago was delineated, in part, from aerial photographs taken by the U.S. Navy's Operation Highjump in 1946–47. Following surveys by French Antarctic Expedition parties during the 1950–52 period, the French gave the name "Archipel de Pointe Géologie" to the entire archipelago, as d'Urville's coastal feature is believed to correlate with portions of the cluster of islands close to the north of Astrolabe Glacier Tongue. In 1952, a small base was built on Île des Pétrels (Petrel Island) to study a nearby

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

of emperor penguins. This base was called Base Marret. As the main base,

Port Martin Port Martin, or Port-Martin, is an abandoned French research base at Cape Margerie on the coast of Adélie Land, Antarctica, as well as the name of the adjacent anchorage. History The site was discovered in 1950 by the French Antarctic Expeditio ...

, was destroyed by fire on the night of 23 January 1952, Base Marret was chosen as the overwintering site for 1952–53. The new main base,

Dumont d'Urville Station The Dumont d'Urville Station (french: Base antarctique Dumont-d'Urville) is a French scientific station in Antarctica on Île des Pétrels, archipelago of Pointe-Géologie in Adélie Land. It is named after explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, wh ...

, was built on the same island, located west of Port Martin, and opened on 12 January 1956, to serve as a centre for French scientific research during the Antarctic International Geophysical Year 1957–58. The station has remained in active use ever since.

Antarctic Specially Protected Area

A site cluster in the heart of the Géologie Archipelago, south and east, and in the immediate vicinity, of Petrel Island, comprises

Jean Rostand Jean Edmond Cyrus Rostand (30 October 1894, Paris – 4 September 1977, Ville-d'Avray) was a French biologist, historian of science, and philosopher. Active as an experimental biologist, Rostand became famous for his work as a science writer, as ...

, Le Mauguen,

Claude Bernard Claude Bernard (; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. Historian I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". He originated the term '' milieu intérieur'', and the ...

and Lamarck Islands,

Bon Docteur Nunatak Bon Docteur Nunatak, also known as Good Doctor Nunatak, is a small coastal nunatak, high, standing at the west side of the Astrolabe Glacier Tongue, south of Rostand Island in the Geologie Archipelago of Antarctica. It was photographed from the ...

, and a breeding site of emperor penguins on the intervening sea ice. The site is protected under the Antarctic Treaty System as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No.120. It was designated as such because it contains representative examples of terrestrial Antarctic ecosystems. Apart from the emperor penguin colony, the only one of about 30 in Antarctica that lies close to a permanent research station, birds nesting in the area include Adélie penguins,

Antarctic skua The brown skua (''Stercorarius antarcticus''), also known as the Antarctic skua, subantarctic skua, southern great skua, southern skua, or hākoakoa (Māori), is a large seabird that breeds in the subantarctic and Antarctic zones and moves furth ...

Wilson's storm petrel Wilson's storm petrel (''Oceanites oceanicus''), also known as Wilson's petrel, is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is one of the most abundant bird species in the world and has a circumpolar distribution mainly ...

s southern giant petrels,

snow petrel The snow petrel (''Pagodroma nivea'') is the only member of the genus ''Pagodroma.'' It is one of only three birds that has been seen at the Geographic South Pole, along with the Antarctic petrel and the south polar skua, which have the most s ...

s and Cape petrels.

Weddell seal The Weddell seal (''Leptonychotes weddellii'') is a relatively large and abundant true seal with a circumpolar distribution surrounding Antarctica. The Weddell seal was discovered and named in the 1820s during expeditions led by British seali ...

s also occur there.

Important Bird Area

A 37 ha site coincident with ASPA 120 has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports about 3,600 pairs of emperor penguins as well as some 54,000 pairs of Adélie penguins, based on 2013 estimates.

References

*
Map of Pointe Géologie archipelago, site of Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine
*
IGN Map of Pointe Géologie archipelago, site of Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty, Documents, Historic Sites and Monuments
*
Map of Pointe Géologie archipelago and Cap Prud'homme, site of Institut Polaire
*

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Geologie Archipelago Archipelagoes of the Southern Ocean Islands of Adélie Land Antarctic Specially Protected Areas Seabird colonies Penguin colonies