Socorro Island
Socorro (Spanish Isla Socorro and Isla Santo Tomás; obsolete: Isla Anublada ) is a volcanic island in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about 440 km south of the southern tip of Baja California located. Politically, the island is part of the Mexican state of Colima, whose coast it is a good 700 km away.
Geography and Geology
Socorro is by far the largest of the Revillagigedo Islands, and 51.5 kilometers from the neighboring island of San Benedicto in the east and 107 km from Roca Partida away to the west. Until Clarion, the westernmost island of the archipelago, there are 314 kilometers.
Socorro is 16.8 km long, up to 15.6 km wide and has an area of almost 132 km ². It represents the located above the sea part of a massive shield volcano, with the Monte Evermann a height of 1050 m above sea level is achieved. It is named after the volcano Barton Warren Evermann, Director of the California Academy of Sciences, which promoted the scientific exploration of the island at the beginning of the 20th century. The island rises steeply from the Pacific Ocean, its landscape is characterized by a large number of partly filled with solidified lava craters and valleys. The last eruptions occurred in 1905 and 1951. 1993/94 there were three kilometers west of the coast to an eruption under water.
History
As the first of the Revillagigedo Islands Socorro was discovered on December 21, 1533 by the Spanish explorer Hernando de Grijalva on board the San Lázaro and baptized Isla Santo Tomás. In 1541 it was mapped for the first time by Domingo del Castillo. Looking for gold in 1608, the island of Martín Yañez de Armida was entered and in Socorro ( German: help, assistance ) renamed.
In particular, in the 19th century, the island was visited by numerous researchers, among others in 1811 by Alexander von Humboldt, 1825 Benjamín Norell or 1839 Edward Belcher. 1855 Socorro was visited by the American ornithologist Andrew Jackson Grayson, which many bird species discovered and systematically recorded.
1957 Mexican naval base was near the southern tip of Cabo Regla, built. In the neighboring village lived about 250 soldiers and their families; otherwise the island is uninhabited. Since 1994, Socorro is part of the Biosphere Reserve of the Biosphere " Archipelago de Revillagigedo ."
In September 1997, the island was by Hurricane Linda, the strongest ever recorded in the eastern Pacific hurricane struck.
Flora and Fauna
Socorro is the richest in plant and animal species of the four Revillagigedo Islands. On the rocky, dry surface only grow niedrigwüchsige plants, total occur no less than 41 endemic plant species. For their endemic bird species, the island is famous. May be mentioned: The Socorrospottdrossel ( Mimodes gray soni ), the only species in the genus from which there is only less than 400 individuals who Socorrosittich ( Aratinga brevipes ), which Socorrozaunkönig ( Troglodytes sissonii ) as well as the domestic only Soccoro subspecies of Elfenkauzes ( Micrathene whitneyi gray soni ). The Socorrotaube ( Zenaida gray soni ) is extinct free-living, but bred in captivity. Threatened is also on the archipelago endemic Townsend 's Shearwater ( Puffinus auricular ).
At risk is the unique animal and plant life by alien species. 1869 were introduced to Socorro sheep; by the inhabitants of the naval base were added other pets such as cats and pigs. While there are efforts to decimate the populations of feral pets drastically, but this will probably still require many years.