Elephant Spit is a 9 km long sand spit at the eastern end of subantarctic Heard Island, in the Australian territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands , lying in the Southern Ocean on the Kerguelen Plateau about 450 km south-east of the Kerguelen Islands . The name refers to southern elephant seals , also known as sea elephants, which breed in large numbers on Heard Island and formed the basis for commercial sealing for oil there during the 19th century.
5-411: Elephant Spit is long, thin, straight and conspicuous, giving the island a distinctive shape as seen from space. It borders Spit Bay to the north and west, and is formed of sediments derived from the glacial erosion of volcanic material from eruptions by Big Ben , which have made the seabed south-east of the island relatively shallow. Heard Island is isolated, uninhabited, and rarely visited. When
10-403: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Spit Bay Spit Bay ( 53°6′S 73°45′E / 53.100°S 73.750°E / -53.100; 73.750 ) is an open bight formed by the northeast coastline of Heard Island and Spit Point , the east extremity of the island . The name derives from the conspicuous Elephant Spit which forms the south and east shore of
15-614: The bight, and may have been given by American sealers at Heard Island in the period following their initiation of sealing there in 1855. The name appears on a chart by the British, who utilized many names then in use by the sealers. Heard Island and McDonald Islands are located in the Southern Ocean , approximately 1,700 km (1,100 mi) from the Antarctic continent and 4,100 km (2,500 mi) southwest of Perth . As
20-508: The island was visited in 2002 and 2003 by scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division , the spit was intact. However, a following visit in late 2008 found that a section of the eastern end of the spit had become inundated by the ocean, forming a 2-km-long island. 53°5′S 73°48′E / 53.083°S 73.800°E / -53.083; 73.800 This subantarctic islands location article
25-630: The only volcanically active subantarctic islands, they "open a window into the earth", thus providing the opportunity to observe ongoing geomorphic processes and glacial dynamics. The distinctive conservation value of Heard and McDonald – one of the world's rare pristine island ecosystems – lies in the complete absence of alien plants and animals, as well as human impact. [REDACTED] This article incorporates public domain material from "Spit Bay" . Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . [REDACTED] This subantarctic islands location article
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