Santiago Island () is one of the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

. It is also known as San Salvador, named after the first island discovered by Columbus in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

(see

San Salvador Island San Salvador Island (known as Watling's Island from the 1680s until 1925) is an island and district of The Bahamas. It is widely believed that during Christopher Columbus's first expedition to the New World, this island was the first land h ...

), or as James Island. The island, which consists of two overlapping volcanoes, has an area of and a maximum altitude of , atop the northwestern shield volcano. The volcano in the island's southeast erupted along a linear fissure, and is much lower. The oldest lava flows on the island date back to 750,000 years ago.

Geology

Tuff Cone on Santiago Island in the Galápagos

Hardened Magma on Santiago Island Galápagos

Panorama of the Eastern Side of Santiago Island, Galápagos

Santiago Island was formed from a shield volcano eponymously named Santiago. The low, flat summits of the volcano allowed the low-

viscosity The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the inte ...

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

to flow for large distances from the source vents. The volcanic origin of the island has led it to be dotted with

holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

pyroclastic rock Pyroclastic rocks (derived from the el, πῦρ, links=no, meaning fire; and , meaning broken) are clastic rocks composed of rock fragments produced and ejected by explosive volcanic eruptions. The individual rock fragments are known as pyroc ...

that can be found across the island. On the eastern and western sides of the island, tuff cones, formed from the rapid interaction of hot lava and water, are visible. The summit of the volcano is on the northwestern part of the island and the last recorded volcanic activity on Santiago Island was between 1904 and 1906.

Wildlife

Land Iguana Basking in the Sun on Santiago Island Galápagos

Galápagos Sea Lion Napping on Santiago Island

Sally Lightfoot Crab on Santiago Island, Galápagos

Like the other islands of the Galápagos archipelago, Santiago Island is rife with wildlife, particularly species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the Galápagos. Some animals commonly seen on the island include the

Galápagos Fur Seal The Galápagos fur seal (''Arctocephalus galapagoensis'') is one of eight seals in the genus ''Arctocephalus'' and one of nine seals in the subfamily '' Arctocephalinae.'' It is the smallest of all of the eared seals. They are endemic to the Gal� ...

Galápagos Sea Lion The Galápagos sea lion (''Zalophus wollebaeki'') is a species of sea lion that lives and breeds on the Galápagos Islands and, in smaller numbers, on Isla de la Plata (Ecuador). Being fairly social, they are often spotted sun-bathing on sandy ...

, Sally Lightfoot Crab,

Marine Iguana The marine iguana (''Amblyrhynchus cristatus''), also known as the sea iguana, saltwater iguana, or Galápagos marine iguana, is a species of iguana found only on the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador). Unique among modern lizards, it is a marine rept ...

and

Galápagos Land Iguana The Galápagos land iguana (''Conolophus subcristatus'') is a very large species of lizard in the family Iguanidae. It is one of three species of the genus ''Conolophus''. It is endemic to the Galápagos Islands, in the dry lowlands of the island ...

, Bottlenose Dolphin,

Rice Rat Oryzomyini is a tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of the family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera,Weksler et al., 2006, table 1 distributed from the eastern United States to the southernmost parts of S ...

, and

Microlophus ''Microlophus'' is a genus of tropidurid lizards native to South America. Around 20 species are recognized and 10 of these are endemic to the Galápagos Islands, where they are commonly known as lava lizardsBenavides E, Baum R, Snell HM, Snell ...

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

in October 1835 noted that the island's population of land iguanas was immense: "I cannot give a more forcible proof of their numbers than by stating that when we were left at James Island we could not for some time find a spot free from their burrows on which to pitch our single tent." On the plants and vegetation, Darwin observed, "As in the other islands, the lower region was covered by nearly leafless bushes, but the trees were here of larger growth than elsewhere. The upper region, being kept damp by the clouds, supports a green and flourishing vegetation."

Restoration

The Directorate of Galápagos National Park and

Island Conservation Island Conservation is a non-profit organization with the mission to prevent extinctions by removing invasive species from islands. Island Conservation has therefore focused its efforts on islands with species categorized as Critically Endangere ...

reintroduced 1,436

s (''Conolophus subcristatus'') to Santiago Island on 4 January 2019 after a 180 year absence. The partners reintroduced the land iguanas in an effort to restore the island's ecological health and to provide the opportunity for this iguana species to thrive. Land iguanas were sourced from North Seymour Island, where they were introduced in the 1930s and have increased to over 5,000 and faced a lack of food availability.

was the second-last person to record land iguanas alive on Santiago Island in 1835, with

Abel-Nicolas Bergasse du Petit-Thouars Abel-Nicolas Georges Henri Bergasse du Petit-Thouars (March 23, 1832 – March 14, 1890) was a French sailor and vice-admiral who took part in the Crimean War, the Boshin War, the Franco-Prussian War and the War of the Pacific. He is considered a ...

being the last in 1838.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Santiago Island (Galapagos) Islands of the Galápagos Islands Volcanoes of the Galápagos Islands Shield volcanoes of Ecuador Polygenetic shield volcanoes Pleistocene shield volcanoes Holocene shield volcanoes

Geology

Wildlife

Restoration

See also

References

External links