Socorro Island
Native name: Isla Socorro | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Location | Pacific Ocean |
Coordinates | 18°47′04″N 110°58′30″W / 18.78444°N 110.97500°W |
Archipelago | Revillagigedo Islands |
Area | 132 km2 (51 sq mi) |
Length | 16.5 km (10.25 mi) |
Width | 11.5 km (7.15 mi) |
Highest elevation | 1,150 m (3770 ft) |
Highest point | Mount (Cerro) Evermann |
Administration | |
Demographics | |
Population | 250 |
Pop. density | 0.34/km2 (0.88/sq mi) |
Socorro Island (Spanish: Isla Socorro) is a volcanic island in the Revillagigedo Islands, a Mexican possession lying 600 kilometres (370 mi) off the country's western coast. The size is 16.5 by 11.5 km (10.25 by 7.15 miles), with an area of 132 km2 (51 sq mi). It is the largest of the four islands of the Revillagigedo Archipelago.[1] The last eruption was in 1993.
Geology
The island rises abruptly from the sea to 1,050 meters (3,440 feet) in elevation at its summit. Socorro Island is the emerged summit of a massive, predominately submarine shield volcano.
The island is part of the northern Mathematicians Ridge, a
It most recently erupted in late January – early February 1993, which was a submarine flank eruption off the coast from Punta Tosca.
There are eight bays surrounding Socorro: three on the southern end of island — Vargas Lozano, Braithwaite, and Lucio Gallardo Pavon; Ensenada Grayson on the southwest; Blanca on the northwest with two inlets separated by a rocky outcropping; and North Bay on the island's north end with two inlets separated by a volcanic formation.[6]
There is a naval station, established in 1957, with a population of 250
History
No evidence of human habitation on Socorro exists before its discovery by Spanish explorer Hernando de Grijalva and his crew on 19 December 1533, who named it Santo Tomás[9][10] ("St Thomas Island"; French: Isle St Thomas). In 1542, Ruy López de Villalobos, while exploring new routes across the Pacific, rediscovered Inocentes and renamed it Isla Anublada ("Cloudy Island") due to the clouds frequently forming on the northern slopes of Mount Evermann, and again in 1608, Martín Yañez de Armida, in charge of another expedition, visited Santo Tomás and changed its name to Isla Socorro after Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Virgen del Perpetuo Socorro).[11]
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Barton Warren Evermann, director of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco promoted the scientific exploration of the island. The most comprehensive biological collections were obtained at this time. The volcano on Socorro was renamed in his honor.
Archie Smith, an American laborer from San Diego, was marooned on the island for one month in 1929 before being rescued by a passing fishing boat. This was because the expedition that brought him to the island to shear wild sheep, returned to port for supplies, but went bankrupt and could not return.[12]
In September 1997, Hurricane Linda passed near the island near peak intensity causing minor damage to meteorological instruments on the island.[13]
Ecology
The lowlands of Socorro – except on the northern, more
The native land
Sheep, cats and
Socorro is an important breeding location for several seabirds, many of which have here one of their north(east)ernmost breeding colonies. The present status of these birds is not well known, and they presumably have suffered from cat predation. In 1953, the following taxa were present:
- Wedge-tailed shearwater, Puffinus pacificus (or Ardenna pacifica)
- Western red-billed tropicbird, Phaethon aethereus mesonauta – breeding suspected but not verified
- Nazca booby, Sula granti – breeding suspected but not verified
- Northeast Pacific brown booby, Sula leucogaster brewsteri – breeding suspected but not verified
- East Pacific great frigatebird, Fregata minor ridgwayi – breeding suspected but not verified; a doubtfully distinct subspecies
- East Pacific sooty tern, Onychoprion fuscatus crissalis – a doubtfully distinct subspecies
- East Pacific brown noddy, Anous stolidus ridgwayi
Non-endemic landbirds and
Endemism
Being the largest of the Revillagigedo Islands and closer to mainland than
Animals
- endangered)
- Socorro red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis socorroensis
- Socorro common ground dove, Columbina passerina socorroensis
- extinctsince c. 1970)
- critically endangered)
- Socorro yellow-crowned night heron, Nycticorax violaceus gravirostris (or Nyctanassa violacea gravirostris)
- Socorro tropical parula, Parula pitiayumi graysoni
- Socorro towhee, Pipilo (maculatus) socorroensis
- Townsend's shearwater, Puffinus auricularis (critically endangered; recently extirpated from San Benedicto and probably Clarión)
- near threatened)
- Socorro dove, Zenaida graysoni (extinct in the wild)
- Urosaurus auriculatus (endangered)
Plants
- Acalypha umbrosa
- Aegopogon solisii
- Aristida vaginata
- Aristolochia socorroensis
- Bidens socorrensis
- Botrychium socorrense
- Castilleja socorrensis
- Cestrum pacificum
- Coreocarpus insularis
- Croton masonii
- Erigeron socorrensis
- Eupatorium pacificum
- Guettarda insularis
- Hypericum eastwoodianum
- Ilex socorroensis
- Lantana involucrata var. socorrensis
- Lepechinia hastata ssp. socorrensis
- Meliosma nesites
- Paspalum longum
- Peperomia socorronis
- Physalis mimulus
- Pleurothallis unguicallosa
- Salvia pseudomisella
- Sida nesogena
- Sideroxylon socorrense (Vulnerable)
- Verbena sphaerocarpa
- Vernonia littoralis
Brickellia peninsularis var. amphithalassa[verification needed], Cheilanthes peninsularis var. insularis, Nicotiana stocktonii, Spermacoce nesiotica and Zapoteca formosa ssp. rosei are near-endemics, being restricted to Socorro and Clarión. Whether Teucrium townsendii ssp. affine is the same plant as those on San Benedicto is not conclusively determined.[20]
Visiting information
Socorro Island is a popular
See also
Notes
- ^ Probably ssp. capuli according to biogeography, Brattstrom & Howell (1956) contra CMICD (2007)
References
- ^ "Socorro, Revillagigedo Islands". Britannica. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
- .
- . Retrieved 2023-05-27.
- ^ "Socorro: Eruptive History". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
- ^ "Socorro". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
- PMID 15162691.
- ^ "HA06, Socorro Island, Mexico: CTBTO Preparatory Commission". www.ctbto.org. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
- ^ JSTOR 1364977.
- ^ Brand, Donald D. (1967). Friis, Herman R. (ed.). The Pacific Basin. A History of its Geographical Exploration. New York: American Geographical Society. p. 370.
- ^ American Geographical Society of New York (1967), Special publication, issue 38, p. 370, American Geographical Society, ISSN 0065-843X
- ^ "Socorro Island, Mexico". CTBTO. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ^ "Modern Robinson Crusoe Is Rescued from Lonely Island". The Bend Bulletin. 1 July 1929. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
- ^ "Hurricane Linda" (PDF). www.nhc.noaa.gov.
- S2CID 146030476.
- ^ . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ BirdLife International (2007): Socorro Dove – BirdLife Species Factsheet. Retrieved 24 November 2007.
- ^ "Socorro Dove (Zenaida graysoni) – BirdLife species factsheet". birdlife.org. 2007. Archived from the original on 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
- S2CID 220333993.
- ^ "Stray pets: Socorro island's endemics and cats". April 13, 2013.
- ^ a b California/Mexico Island Conservation Database (CMICD, 2007): Plant accounts: Socorro Archived 2007-12-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
- ^ "Diving Socorro in December: Whale Sharks, Manta Rays and Dolphins". Bluewater Dive Travel. 2018-01-09. Retrieved 2019-06-29.