Isla Salas y Gómez (), also known as Isla Sala y Gómez (; ), is a small uninhabited

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an island 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 ...

. It is sometimes considered the easternmost point in the

Polynesian Triangle The Polynesian Triangle is a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: Hawaii (''Hawaiʻi''), Easter Island (''Rapa Nui'') and New Zealand (''Aotearoa''). This is often used as a simple way to define Polynesia. Outsi ...

. Isla Salas y Gómez and its surrounding waters are a

Marine Protected Area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

called Parque Marino Salas y Gómez, with a surface area of 150,000 km². Throughout its history, the island has been largely untouched by humans, due to its diminutive size and remoteness.

Geography

Isla Salas y Gómez is located 3,210 km west of the Chilean mainland, 2,490 km west of Chile's Desventuradas Islands, 3,226 km south of the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

and 391 km east-northeast of

Easter Island Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

, the closest landmass. Salas y Gómez consists of two rocks, a smaller one in the west measuring 4

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. A ...

in area (270 meters north–south, 200 meters east–west), and a larger one in the east measuring 11 ha (500 meters north–south, 270 meters east–west), which are connected by a narrow

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

in the north, averaging approximately 30 meters in width. The total area is approximately 15 hectares (0.15 km²), and the total length northwest–southeast is 770 meters. Its highest point, 30 meters above sea level, is in the south of the eastern rock, less than 30 meters from the shore, above a 10 meter high

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...

. The highest elevation on the western rock is 26 meters. The island is showered with salt water, and the shoreline is dotted with countless tidepools. Because the shoreline consists primarily of cliffs, landing on the island is difficult in all but the calmest of conditions. There are no permanent sources of

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

on the island, but there is an intermittent rainwater pool in a depression on the eastern rock, which often forms a cache of fresh water 75 meters in diameter. This is essential for the survival of the large population of seabirds. Even when this area appears dry at the surface, the

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

is still moist just a few inches below the surface. This flat sandy area is also the only place on the island suitable for landing

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s. In 1994, the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy () is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense (Chile), Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Ori ...

installed an automated beacon and a tsunami warning system. The island has since been declared a nature sanctuary.

History

Name

The

Rapa Nui Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

name for the island is or , meaning "(Bird's) Islet on the way to ". is part of the names of several Polynesian islands, particularly in the

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...

. In the Rapa Nui language, however, it means "far off lands" and is the name for the mythical original homeland of the Polynesians. From Easter Island, Salas y Gómez is almost the opposite direction to the Marquesas, and the next inhabited territory "behind" Salas y Gómez would be the coast of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. This was one of the factors that led

Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and Ethnography, ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expediti ...

to theorize that there was pre-European contact between Polynesia and South America. The current name, Salas y Gómez, is derived from the name of Spaniards José Salas Valdés and José Manuel Gómez, who made the first detailed description of the island, following a visit beginning 18 October 1805. The island is sometimes also referred to as "Isla Sala y Gómez", with "Sala" being a misunderstanding of Salas.

Human visitation

Although there is no evidence that the island has ever been permanently inhabited, Easter Islanders were certainly aware of its existence, as indicated by the pre-

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an name of the island. Tradition says that the island was occasionally visited to collect fledglings and eggs. The island was said to have been difficult to land upon, because the gods Make-make and Huau protected the seabirds from those who ate their eggs and offspring. Because of these historical connections to Easter Island, Salas y Gómez might be considered part of Polynesia; if so its location would make it the easternmost landmass of Polynesia. The first European to sight the island was José Salas Valdés, a Spanish sailor, on 23 August 1793. It was later explored by another Spaniard José Manuel Gómez and owes its name to these two navigators. Between then and 1917, visits are recorded in at least 1805, 1806, 1817, 1825, 1875, and 1917.

Political situation

Salas y Gómez was claimed by Chile in 1888, and was administered by the Chilean Navy. Beginning 1 March 1966, the island was included in the department of Isla de Pascua. On 25 July 1974, the department was reorganized as the

Province.

Marine Protected Area

On October 6, 2010, President Sebastián Piñera announced the creation of the 150,000 km²

''Parque Marino Sala y Gómez'', By Oceana announcing the creation of the Sala y Gómez

also called ''Parque Marino Motu Motiro Hiva''. During the 2008 Deepsea Coral Symposium,Handbook – 4th International Symposium on Deepsea Coral
, 4th ISDSC. Wellington, the idea of a Marine Protected Area on the submarine ridges of Salas y Gomez and Nazca was launched for the very first time. Then, in February 2009, the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

, WWF Chile,Fondo Mundial para la Naturaleza
WWF Chile. published a scientific revision in the Latin American Journal of Aquatic Research,Galvez, M. 2009. Seamounts of Nazca and Salas y Gómez: a review for management and conservation purposes
, Lat. Am. J. Aquat. Res., 37(3): 479–500. giving the scientific background that supported the government reportInforme Técnico (R.Pesq.) 81/2010 de agosto 2010. Subsecretaría de Pesca.
Fundamentos para establecer el Parque Marino Salas y Gómez. for the declaration of the non-take MPA Motu Motiro Hiva. This declaration follows the efforts of Oceana and

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

to both study and highlight the ecological value of this area, and to encourage its protection. These organizations are planning additional expeditions to the area in order to draft a conservation plan, and to propose the widening of the protected area to encompass the whole

Exclusive Economic Zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

around the island.

Geology

Salas y Gómez is a

volcanic island Geologically, a volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term high island can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often formed ...

consisting of the summit of a large mountain which rises about 3500 metres from the sea bed. ''Scott Reef'' (not to be confused with Scott Reefs off

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

), 1.5 km further northeast, is another peak of the same mostly submarine mountain, and has a least depth of 25 meters above it. Salas y Gómez is part of the same Salas y Gómez Ridge as Easter Island to the west, these two locations being the only places where the otherwise submarine mountain range extends above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. There are several dozen more

seamount A seamount is a large submarine landform that rises from the ocean floor without reaching the water surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet, or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abruptly a ...

s in the range, which extends 2232 km eastward until Nazca Seamount at , where it joins the Nazca Ridge. Salas y Gómez is the fourth youngest mountain in the chain, which is being formed by the

Nazca Plate The Nazca plate or Nasca plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic list of tectonic plates, tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru– ...

floating over the Easter hotspot. The two youngest mountains in the chain, Pukao and

Moai Moai or moʻai ( ; ; ) are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but h ...

, are seamounts to the west of Easter Island.

Flora

''Salas y Gómez'' and Easter Island form a distinct

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

, the ''Rapa Nui

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

broadleaf forests''. However Salas y Gómez is largely barren with no

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s and only four species of terrestrial plants; these include '' Asplenium obtusatum'' ("spleenwort"), a type of

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

which only grows in protected areas at higher elevations.

Fauna

Besides a number of insect species, the only non-aquatic fauna are about a dozen 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 ...

, which use the island as a rookery, with the estimated number of adult birds in 1985 (Harrison and Jehl, 1988): Those numbers may vary considerably from year to year, due to weather conditions, and it has been observed that the overall numbers were much lower in 1986. Marine fauna includes a large number of littoral

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

echinoidea Sea urchins or urchins () are echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species live on the seabed, inhabiting all oceans and depth zones from the intertidal zone to deep seas of . They typically have a globular body covered by a spiny ...

, etc., as well as a large assortment of

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

fishes and a number of species of

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

, which swimmers report to be "curious", but not aggressive. The lacks of studies has resulted in poor understandings of oceanic fauna of Easter Island and waters in vicinity. However possibilities of undiscovered breeding grounds for humpback, southern blue and

pygmy blue whale The pygmy blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda'') is a subspecies of the blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') found in the Indian Ocean and the Southern Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy The pygmy blue whale formed from a founder group of An ...

s including Isla Salas y Gómez and the

have been considered.

Cultural references

Charles Stephenson's book ''The Face of OO'' features the island, and the submerged rocks around it, heavily.

Alan Dean Foster Alan Dean Foster (born November 18, 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction. He has written several book series, more than 20 standalone novels, and many novelizations of film scripts. Career ''Star Wars'' Foster was the ghost ...

referred to the island in his 1971

Cthulhu mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American Horror fiction, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, t ...

short story "Some Notes Concerning a Green Box". Although only passing Salas y Gomez in 1816 and not going ashore, the German poet

Adelbert von Chamisso Adelbert von Chamisso (; 30 January 1781 – 21 August 1838) was a German poet, writer and botanist. He was commonly known in French as Adelbert de Chamisso (or Chamissot) de Boncourt, a name referring to the family estate at Boncourt. Life ...

wrote a poem based on his reflections upon the island.Adelbert von Chamisso (1981
Gesammelte Werke (Collected works), Band 2 (Vol. 2)
Leipzig, p. 291

References

External links

National Monuments
Chilean government.
document with sketch map

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051014224405/http://www.ecole-navale.fr/fr/irenav/cv/poupin/publis/Checklist_Easter_Poupin.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20051014224405/http://www.ecole-navale.fr/fr/irenav/cv/poupin/publis/Checklist_Easter_Poupin.pdf]
Adalbert von Chamisso's ''Salas y Gomez'' at Gutenberg (in German)

Parque Marino Salas y Gómez
entry on BlooSee
Isla o islote Salas y Gómez (spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isla Salas Y Gomez Salas y Gomez Geography of Polynesia Uninhabited islands of Chile Volcanoes of the Pacific Ocean Islands of Easter Island Volcanoes of Easter Island