Adams Island is the second largest island of New Zealand's
Auckland Islands
The Auckland Islands ( Māori: ''Motu Maha'' "Many islands" or ''Maungahuka'' "Snowy mountains") are an archipelago of New Zealand, lying south of the South Island. The main Auckland Island, occupying , is surrounded by smaller Adams Island ...
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...
.
Geography
The southern end of
Auckland Island
Auckland Island () is the main island of the eponymous uninhabited archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the New Zealand subantarctic area. It is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list together with the other New Zealand Subant ...
broadens to a width of where a narrow channel, known as
Carnley Harbour
Carnley Harbour is a large natural harbour in the south of the Auckland Islands, part of the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands. Formed from the drowned crater of an extinct volcano, the harbour separates the mainland of Auckland Island to the n ...
or the Adams Straits, separates it from the roughly triangular Adams Island (area approximately ), which is even more mountainous, reaching a height of at
Mount Dick
Mount Dick is a 705-metre (2313 ft) peak on Adams Island, the second-largest of New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the ...
.
The channel is the remnant of the crater of an extinct
volcano
A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...
, with Adams Island, and the southern part of
Auckland Island
Auckland Island () is the main island of the eponymous uninhabited archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the New Zealand subantarctic area. It is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list together with the other New Zealand Subant ...
forming the crater rim.
Two large indentations, Bolton's Bay and Fly Harbour, are the most prominent features of the island's south coast, both in the south east.
Important Bird Area
The island is part of the Auckland Island group
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA), identified as such by
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...
because of the significance of the group as a breeding site for several species of
seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...
s as well as the endemic
Auckland shag
The Auckland shag or Auckland Islands shag (''Leucocarbo colensoi'') is a species of cormorant from New Zealand. The species is endemic to the Auckland Islands archipelago. It is a sedentary bird that primarily eats various crustaceans and fish ...
,
Auckland teal
The Auckland teal (''Anas aucklandica'') (), also known as Auckland Islands teal, is a species of dabbling duck of the genus ''Anas'' that is endemic to Auckland Islands south of New Zealand. The species was once found throughout the Auckland Is ...
,
Auckland rail
The Auckland rail, Auckland Island rail or Auckland Islands rail (''Lewinia muelleri'') is a small nearly flightless Rallidae, rail endemism, endemic to the Auckland Islands 460 km south of New Zealand. It is somewhat of a biogeography, bio ...
and
Auckland snipe
The Auckland snipe (''Coenocorypha aucklandica aucklandica''), also known as the Auckland Island snipe, is a small bird in the sandpiper family. It is the isolated nominate subspecies of the subantarctic snipe that is endemic to the Auckland Isl ...
.
[BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Auckland Islands. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23 January 2012.]
The island is notable in that no
introduced mammals have ever established on Adams Island.
Thus, its fauna, which may be representative of pre-human times, differs significantly from that of many other islands in the archipelago including the main Auckland Island, which still has introduced pigs, cats and mice.
See also
*
Auckland Islands
The Auckland Islands ( Māori: ''Motu Maha'' "Many islands" or ''Maungahuka'' "Snowy mountains") are an archipelago of New Zealand, lying south of the South Island. The main Auckland Island, occupying , is surrounded by smaller Adams Island ...
*
Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about th ...
*
List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands
This is a list of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands.
* Antarctic islands are, in the strict sense, the islands around mainland Antarctica, situated on the Antarctic Plate, and south of the Antarctic Convergence. According to the terms of the A ...
*
List of islands of New Zealand
New Zealand consists of more than six hundred islands, mainly remnants of Zealandia, a larger land mass now beneath the sea. New Zealand is the List of island countries#UN member states and states with limited recognition, sixth-largest island ...
*
New Zealand subantarctic islands
The New Zealand Subantarctic Islands comprise the five southernmost groups of the New Zealand outlying islands. They are collectively designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Most of the islands lie near the southeast edge of the large ...
*
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council, International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including th ...
References
Islands of the Auckland Islands
Important Bird Areas of the Auckland Islands
Volcanic islands of New Zealand
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