Darwin's Arch () was a natural rock arch feature to the south-east of Darwin Island in the Galápagos Archipelago in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, and is now a pillar formation. The arch sat on an irregularly shaped, rocky, submerged plateau, nicknamed "the theatre". The arch collapsed into the sea on 17 May 2021 from natural

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

. Darwin's Arch, along with the nearby Darwin Island, was named after English

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

, whose studies in the surrounding area helped him to form his theory of

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

by means of

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...

. As a tribute to Darwin and his works, some locals and industry professionals have nicknamed the remaining stone "towers" the Pillars of Evolution ().

Geography

Part of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

's Galápagos Archipelago, Darwin Island is a small, uninhabited island with an area of and an elevation of . Darwin's Arch was to the southeast of the island and had a bridge-like appearance, which had been caused by erosion. The plateau's wall drops away into the sea, and the arch's ocean side featured a "viewing platform" at . The arch was high, long, and wide.

Fauna

From its southern tip to the sloping channel, the marine fauna seen are

scalloped hammerhead The scalloped hammerhead (''Sphyrna lewini'') is a species of hammerhead shark in the family (biology), family Hammerhead shark, Sphyrnidae. It was originally known as ''Zygaena lewini''. The Greek language, Greek word ''sphyrna'' translates into ...

manta ray Manta rays are large Batoidea, rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, ''Giant oceanic manta ray, M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, ''Reef manta ray, M. alfredi'', reac ...

s, big-eye jacks,

bonito Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned, predatory fish in the family Scombridae, which it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish. Also called the tribe Sardini, it consists of ...

yellowfin tuna The yellowfin tuna (''Thunnus albacares'') is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. Yellowfin is often marketed as ahi, from the Hawaiian , a name also used there for the closely related bigeye ...

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

s, big schooling of species of

pelagic fish Pelagic fish live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters—being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore—in contrast with demersal fish that live on or near the bottom, and reef fish that are associated with coral reefs. ...

, and also

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter feeder, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known Extant taxon, extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of . The whale shark holds many records for ...

s of up to in length. The whale sharks are found from early July. Other marine fauna include Moorish idols,

Galapagos shark The Galapagos shark (''Carcharhinus galapagensis'') is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, found worldwide. It favors clear reef environments around oceanic islands, where it is often the most abundant shark species. A large ...

eagle ray The eagle rays are a group of cartilaginous fishes in the family Myliobatidae, consisting mostly of large species living in the open ocean rather than on the sea bottom. Eagle rays feed on mollusks, and crustaceans, crushing their shells with th ...

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...

s, hawksbill turtles, silkie and white-tipped reef sharks,

barracuda A barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned, saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldw ...

and black jack sharks. Many birds are endemic and the species commonly noted is the sooty tern (''Sterna fuscata''), which breeds on Darwin Island.

Tourism

The arch was popular with photographers and cruise-ship tours. The rich wildlife around the arch made it a popular scuba diving location. As with Darwin Island, tourists were not permitted to set foot on the arch. The surrounding area of the Galápagos Islands was declared a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 1978.

Collapse

On 17 May 2021, at 11:20a.m. Galápagos Time ( UTC–6), the arch collapsed through natural erosion. A post from Ecuador's Ministry of Environment and Water stated that "this event was a consequence of natural erosion. Darwin's Arch is made of natural stone that at one time would have been part of Darwin Island, which is not open to visits by land." The event was witnessed by divers aboard the ''Galapagos Aggressor III''. Following the collapse of the arch, the remaining columns of rock have been nicknamed the "Pillars of Evolution" () by locals in the tourism and diving industry. The nickname alludes to the arch and the nearby island having been named after Charles Darwin, whose studies of the surrounding area's wildlife contributed to the inception of his theory of

by means of

References

External links

* {{Recreational dive sites, reesit Charles Darwin Galápagos Islands Landforms of Ecuador Landforms of Galápagos Province Natural arches Stacks (geology) Collapsed arches