Keelung Islet (, also , in

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/ Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 7 ...

: 雞籠杙/Ke-lâng-khit) is a small

island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...

Zhongzheng District Zhongzheng District (also Jhongjheng District) is a district in Taipei. It is home to most of the national government buildings of the Republic of China (Taiwan), including the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the Control Yuan, the ...

Keelung Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with its neighbors, New T ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

and away from the Port of Keelung. It has an area of or . It is in length, and in width including the artificial harbor, the highest point is

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The ...

History

In ancient times, the island was seen as a sacred place by locals. It was rumoured that a female ghost named Shih-Yun lived there, to mourn over her husband who died in a shipwreck hundreds of years ago. In the modern day, the islet is primarily used as a military training base. Since 2001, it has been opened for tourists. Ferry services to the island operate daily from the port of Keelung. There is a small port and a walkway on the island. The island is also popular with the local fishing industry, because of the quantity of fish it attracts in its surrounding sea. In 2013, the islet was closed to visitors following

Typhoon Soulik The name Soulik ( ) has been used to name four tropical cyclones in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The name was contributed by the Federated States of Micronesia and is the traditional title of chiefs on Pohnpei. * Typhoon Soulik (2000) (T0023, 34 ...

. The islet remained closed to the public as damage from

Typhoon Soudelor Typhoon Soudelor, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Hanna, was the third most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2015 after Hurricane Patricia and Cyclone Pam as well as the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2015 Pacific typhoon season. Sou ...

in 2015 was repaired. In July 2017, the city government allocated NT$82 million for the island's infrastructure reparation and renovation works. Plans to reopen for tourists in August 2018 were delayed until June 2019. The islet was finally reopened again on 25 June.

Geography

The island is volcanic, part of the

Chilung Volcano Group The Chilung Volcanoes () are a group of extinct volcanoes located in northern Taiwan, lying to the east of Taipei and Keelung (Chilung), and adjoining the northern coast of the island of Taiwan. Together with Mount Guanyin and the Tatun Volcano Gr ...

. It dates from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

period. The eruption was explosive tholeiitic

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

and

dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained ( aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhy ...

. The main mineral is calcium rich

plagioclase Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more pro ...

. The magma source is the western extremity of the Ryukyu Volcanic Arc formed when the subducting

Philippine Sea Plate The Philippine Sea Plate or the Philippine Plate is a tectonic plate comprising oceanic lithosphere that lies beneath the Philippine Sea, to the east of the Philippines. Most segments of the Philippines, including northern Luzon, are part of ...

was compressed below the edge of the Eurasian Plate at about 20 to 30 km deep. The magma was contaminated with continental crust material. Geochemistry of the rock shows that iron, aluminium, titanium, potassium, rubidium and strontium are enriched, but sodium, magnesium and nickel are impoverished.

Transportation

The island can be accessed from Keelung mainland at Badouzi,

Bisha Bisha ( ar, بيشة, '), also known as Qal`at Bishah ( ar, قلعة بيشة, '), is a town in the south-western Saudi Arabian province, 'Asir. Bisha was its own province before merging with its neighboring province, 'Asir. Bisha has a popula ...

Ports.

References

{{commons category Islands of Taiwan Landforms of Keelung Pleistocene volcanoes Volcanoes of Taiwan

History

Geography

Transportation

See also

References