On September 29 this year, China Earthquake Network announced that magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred in , the earthquake magnitude was not particularly large, and this matter itself is not a big deal, but everyone must be a little confused about this location and thinks that the name is very unfamiliar. It is estimated that 99% of people do not know where this archipelago is located. Only friends who are very familiar with geography and even specialize in geography can clearly point out its location. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the strangest island of humans on the earth.
South Sandwich Islands are located at the southern end of the Atlantic Ocean, near Antarctica, and their jurisdiction belongs to the United Kingdom. The nearest country to the west is Argentina , and to the east is South Africa, or it is located between Africa and South America, but it is further south than the territory of these two countries, and the distance to both countries is more than 2,500 kilometers, and the distance to Antarctica is 2,000 kilometers, and the distance to the United Kingdom is more than 10,000 kilometers. None of the human ocean and air channel will pass here, so compared with Nemo point in the Pacific, this place is more remote, and it is the most remote archipelago on the earth for all mankind.
South Sandwich Islands are also the only archipelago that lies in the westerly drifting belt of the southern hemisphere. Westerly drifting is the largest ocean current on the entire earth, circling around Antarctica, and the flow is more than a hundred times the sum of rivers around the world. This archipelago is like seven warriors standing in the world's largest ocean current, turning the tide.
From the satellite map, if Drake Strait between Antarctica and Oceania is like opening a huge gap for west wind drift belt, then the South Sandwich Islands are like a huge arched dam that blocks the west wind drift belt. Some people say that it is like the 7 nails nailed by God here, and the distance between the 7 "nails" is close to equidistant, and the arc formed is also very perfect. The 7 islands block the westerly drifting water like a fence, forcing most of the water currents of the world's largest ocean current to flow to both sides.
The ocean current flowing north is Benguela cold current . After flowing to the equator, the sea water heats up to form an equatorial current, which profoundly affects the climate in western Africa sub-Saharan . After that, the ocean current flows southward at the eastern end of South America called Brazilian warm current , which affects the climate of most of South America, and the one moving northward is called the North Equatorial Current. This warm water flows into the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to continue heating, which is the Gulf of Mexico Warm Current. After coming out of the Gulf of Mexico, it continues to stop northward to North Atlantic warm current . This warm current affects the climate of the entire Europe and some Asian regions, creating a warm and rainy European climate. It can be seen that although the South Sandwich Islands are very remote, they fundamentally affect the world climate.
If there is no such fence-like island, the water flow of Bengra cold current will be much smaller, and the water flow of the North Atlantic warm current will be much smaller, and Europe will become very cold. If the European climate is not suitable for human survival, it will definitely be difficult to develop a global civilization like in recent hundreds of years. In this sense, although the South Sandwich Islands are very remote and everyone is very unfamiliar with it, it still has a profound impact on us humans.
The South Sandwich Islands actually appeared very short. Geologists analyzed that it was only about 3 million years ago. It was a volcanic island formed by the eruption of undersea volcanoes. There are 7 main islands, distributed in arc shape at the southern end of the Southern Atlantic Ocean. There are also some small islands distributed around the 7 main islands, with a total land area of about 310 square kilometers. The 7 islands are all volcanic islands, and they are all active volcanoes. This is also because it is located at the junction of the American plate, the African plate and the Antarctic plate, and the southern end of the Atlantic Ridge. The geological structure is very complex, and there are many volcanic and seismic activities.
However, because the location is very south, close to Antarctica, it is in the westerly drifting zone, and the temperature is very low. Therefore, although the altitude of the island is not very high, most of it is covered with ice and snow, and there are fewer places with vegetation, so humans can hardly live normally on the island. Therefore, this island is also called the "Island of Hell", but it has birds, penguins, , , seals, etc.
The reason why this archipelago is the strangest archipelago on earth is because its location is too remote. If there were no special missions to go to this archipelago, basically no one would go here. Some people speculate that in the past 200 years since it was discovered by humans, there have been less than 1,000 people who have landed on this archipelago so far, and there are more than 400 people who have landed on the space station, so more people who have been to the space station than those who have been to this archipelago.
Historical records show that this archipelago was first discovered by humans on January 30, 1775. It was first discovered by British explorer Captain James Cork. It was an uninhabited island at that time, and it was a human had never arrived before. Captain Cork, who was first discovered, did not stay and live on the island. From December 30, 1819 to January 18, 1820, Russian Belins Gao Jin and others investigated the archipelago.
Reference:
"China Earthquake Network News" Article on September 29 "A 6.5-magnitude earthquake occurred in the South Sandwich Islands"
#I am creating the second issue of Toutiao#
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