Farallon Islands

The Farallon Islands (English Farallon Islands ) are a group of rugged volcanic islands and rocks in the Gulf of the Farallones, off the coast of San Francisco. They are located 43 km west of the Golden Gate and 32 km south of Point Reyes. Administratively, they are part of the metropolitan area of ​​San Francisco, and indeed for District 1: North West ( also called the Richmond District ).

Geography

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The islands extending from Southeast Farallon Iceland, the largest island, about 8 km to the northwest. The total land area is 0.42 km ².

South Farallon Islands

By far the largest part of the area (0.39 km ²) occupy the southern Farallon Islands - especially Southeast Farallon Iceland and the separate immediately to the west and by the only 5 meters wide, impassable Jordan Channel Maintop Iceland ( West End ). The highest elevation of the Southeast Farallon Iceland is Tower Hill with 109 m. On the flattened summit of workers is the lighthouse, which was built there in 1853 for the first time. On the Marine Terrace to the south below the summit there is a Coast Guard and research station.

Middle Farallon Iceland

Middle Farallon Iceland is located about 3 km north- west of the southern islands, with a diameter of 65 meters and an area of ​​only 3,362 square meters. The Bald and guano - covered island is unofficially called The Pimple.

North Farallon Islands

A further 7 km north-west lie the Northern Farallon Islands (area 0.03 km ²). They consist of two groups of bare, steep rocks: A group around the Isle of St. James with three larger islands ( about 100 meters in diameter) and four smaller rocks, and 700 meters northwest of the North Farallon Iceland (160 meters from north to south, up to 60 meters wide) with three upstream smaller rocks ( 15 to 40 meters in diameter ).

Official sources mention four islands in the North Farallon Islands:

• East Iceland
• South Iceland
• West Iceland (Isle of St. James )
• North Iceland

Fanny Shoal

The north-western end of the group is marked by the 5 km north -west of the North Farallon Islands located bank Fanny Shoal, which has a diameter of 3 km and less than 55 meters deep. The shallowest point is the reef Noonday skirt with a water depth of 4 m. One kilometer west of Noonday Rock is a floating beacon. The name Noonday skirt is from a ship that ran here in 1862 and sank within an hour.

Banks northwest of Fanny Shoal

Banks northwest of Fanny Shoal no longer belong to the Farallon Islands, and are outside the U.S. territorial waters. 25 km north- west of Noonday rock is the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, an important and protected marine habitat. Between Fanny Shoal and Cordell Bank, the ride is to Castle Bank! 537.8833335376.700000537 ° 53 'N, 123 ° 18' W37.883333333333 - 123.3, with a least depth of less than 80 meters.

History

The archipelago was discovered in 1579 by the English navigator Francis Drake, who had landed on them to collect supplies in the form of meat and bird eggs and she called Islands of Saint James. This original name of the archipelago has remained a rock in his name. 1603, the Spaniard Sebastián Vizcaíno mapped the islands, they took for Spain and gave them the present name. The islands were part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain and from 1810/1821 to the newly independent Mexico. 1810 studied American hunters from Boston on the islands for seal hunting. 1812-1840 operated the Russians from Fort Ross on the islands, a station on seal hunting. It was the southernmost outpost of Russian America. 1848 came the Farallon Islands with Alta California to the United States. In 1909, the islands were declared a bird sanctuary.

At the time of World War 2, a small military outpost was located next to the U.S. Coast Guard on the main island (South East Farallon Iceland ). At that time there were over 50 people on that not only 0.5 km ² island. Until 1969, a permanently manned positions of the U.S. Coast Guard was on the island, which provided for a functioning lighthouse. As 'The Farallon Light' was automated, biologists took the research institution PRBO Conservation Science (then called Point Reyes Bird Observatory ) monitoring of the islands and there again recovering animal population. 3 (in winter) to 8 ( in summer) biologists are constantly on the Southeast Farallones, which is closed to visitors. Otherwise, the islands are uninhabited and are home to the largest seabird colony of the United States outside of Alaska. Among other things, it is the largest known colony of Taubenteisten. Moreover, a large elephant seal colony closely located on the islands. In 1969, the reserve Farallon National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness was established to protect the islands.

Nuclear waste

The area surrounding the Farallon Islands is also known as Farallon Iceland Nuclear Waste Dump, since 1946-1970 radioactive waste was disposed of by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in the sea. According to a 1980 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency ( USEPA ) published report about 47,500 containers and steel drums were between this time, but mainly before 1960, sunk with contaminated waste in this group of islands fishing and conservation area with about 14,500 Ci burden. The main deposit is located at the coordinates! 537.6166675376.716667537 ° 37 'N, 123 ° 17' W37.616666666667 - 123.28333333333 in depth 1700 m, while about 3500 containers by! 537.6333335376.866667537 ° 38 ' N, 123 ° 08' W37 .633333333333-123.13333333333 were sunk and now lie at a depth of 900 m. Headquartered in San Francisco Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory is the main user of this maritime dumping ground because it was entrusted with the decontamination of nuclear test objects. Thus, among other things, the aircraft carrier USS Independence ( CVL -22), which served as a test ship for the first two nuclear tests as part of Operation Crossroads, with radioactively contaminated materials of different customers, including the NRDL, loaded, and the end of January 1951 as a target ship by the U.S. Navy sunk. According to the United States Geological Survey, the degree of exposure hazards arising from nuclear waste on the environment and the exact location of each major container are unknown. A recovery of the waste from the seabed, and then deposit them in special disposal sites, should not be carried out on the advice of the USEPA, there are too many risks to humans and the surrounding environment existed.