The Ball's Pyramid: an amazing islet that was part of a continent today submerged

@ElentirENG ES 6·04·2023 · 23:50 0

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To the east of Australia is an uninhabited islet called Ball's Pyramid. There are many uninhabited islets in the world, but there is no other with this amazing appearance. And it is that this islet, which belongs to Australia (it is about 600 km from the continent), is 300 meters wide, 1.1 kilometers long and 562 meters high.

How did such an islet arise in the middle of nowhere? The answer is that Ball's Pyramid was part of a shield volcano that eroded millions of years ago. The volcanic origin of the islet is clearly observed when looking at the surface of its rocks. This islet was part of the mainland of Zealand, 90% of its surface disappeared 23 million years ago (the New Zealand islands are part of it).

Ball's Pyramid is named after its discoverer was Rear Admiral Henry Lidgbird Ball of the British Royal Navy. He discovered it in 1778, when he was a lieutenant. His descriptions and notes on the islet and its fauna were published in 1789. It took more than a century for someone to dare to land there, due to the narrowness of the islet. The first person to set foot on it was the geologist Henry Wilkinson in 1882.

If disembarking on this steep islet is already a challenge, reaching its summit was an even more difficult challenge. The first to climb it were four Australians (Bryden Allen, John Davis, Jack Pettigrew and David Witham) in 1965. The danger of disembarking and climbing this islet led to the fact that climbing on it was prohibited in 1982 and disembarkation in 1986. These restrictions have now been lifted, but access and climbing on the islet is only possible under very strict conditions.

Ball's Pyramid is a very unique place in terms of flora and fauna. It is one of the few places in the world where Melaleuca howeana, a plant popularly known as tea tree, grows. This plant only grows on this islet and on Lord Howe Island, located 20 kilometers to the east. northwest. It is also home to Dryococelus Australis , an insect that was thought to have disappeared but was rediscovered in 2001 on this islet and on Lord Howe Island. It is considered the rarest insect in the world, since only a few dozen of them are known to exist.

If you want to know more about this fascinating islet, you can watch this video published three months ago by Epic Adventure Archives:

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Main photo: Epic Adventure Archives.