A group of sub-Antarctic Australian islands, some of them described as the wildest places on Earth, were added to the global pool of World Heritage sites at a meeting in Naples, Italy, on 4 December.
Wild as it gets. View of the Heard and McDonald island group.AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION
The designation obligates the government to protect the sites from uses that threaten their heritage value. These islands were selected largely because of their remarkable geology. The Heard and McDonald Island Group, in the Indian Ocean some 4100 km southwest of Perth, sit atop the Kerguelen plateau, the world's largest submarine plateau. Their geology provides clues to processes operating during the rifting that tore India from the supercontinent of Gondwana some 120 million years ago, says Pat Quilty, chief scientist at the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions. As the continents separated, the plateau sank to a few hundred kilometers below sea level, and the islands arose from volcanic activity.
The other newly designated site is Macquarie Island, a 37-km-long sliver that lies 1500 kilometers southeast of Tasmania. The island, home to a scientific base and a nature preserve, was formed from the Pacific Ocean floor sliding under the Indian Ocean floor. It therefore contains the world's best example of exposed oceanic crust, says Quilty.
The McDonald and Heard islands also offer near-pristine biological treasures. With its formidable cliffs, McDonald Island, which has never been inhabited by people, is a sanctuary to penguins, seals, and birds. And Heard Island is the only place in the world where all six species of Antarctic seal are found.
