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Socorro Island
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Socorro Island
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 (10.3 by 7.1 mi), with an area of 132 km2 (51 sq mi). It is the largest of the four islands of the Revillagigedo Archipelago. The last eruption was in 1993.
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, predominantly submarine shield volcano.
The island is part of the northern Mathematicians Ridge, a mid-ocean ridge that became largely inactive 3.5 million years ago when activity moved to the East Pacific Rise. All four islands along with the many seamounts on the ridge are post-abandonment alkaline volcanoes. Socorro Island is unusual in that it is the only dominantly silicic peralkaline volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean.
It most recently erupted in late January and early February 1993, which was a submarine flank eruption off the coast from Punta Tosca. An earlier eruption was on May 21, 1951; earlier eruptions probably occurred in 1905, 1896 and 1848. The initial volcanic event probably occurred in 3090 BC ±500 years. Mount Evermann (Spanish: Cerro Evermann) is the name given to the summit dome complex, in honor of ichthyologist Barton Warren Evermann. The island's surface is broken by furrows, small craters, and numerous ravines, and covered in lava domes, lava flows and cinder cones.
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.
There is a naval station, established in 1957, with a population of 250 (staff and families), living in a village with a church, that stands on the western side of Bahía Vargas Lozano, a small cove with a rocky beach, about 800 meters (870 yards) east of Cabo Regla, the southernmost point of the island. The station is served by a dock, a local helipad and Isla Socorro airport, located six kilometers to the north. There is a fresh water spring about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) northwest of Cabo Regla, at the shoreline of Ensenada Grayson (or Caleta Grayson). This is brackish and sometimes covered by the sea at high tide. In the 1950s, a small freshwater seep was known to exist some 45 meters (49 yards) inland at Bahía Lucio Gallardo Pavon (Binner's Cove), 800 meters (870 yards) northwest of the naval station.
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 ("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).
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.
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Socorro Island
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 (10.3 by 7.1 mi), with an area of 132 km2 (51 sq mi). It is the largest of the four islands of the Revillagigedo Archipelago. The last eruption was in 1993.
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, predominantly submarine shield volcano.
The island is part of the northern Mathematicians Ridge, a mid-ocean ridge that became largely inactive 3.5 million years ago when activity moved to the East Pacific Rise. All four islands along with the many seamounts on the ridge are post-abandonment alkaline volcanoes. Socorro Island is unusual in that it is the only dominantly silicic peralkaline volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean.
It most recently erupted in late January and early February 1993, which was a submarine flank eruption off the coast from Punta Tosca. An earlier eruption was on May 21, 1951; earlier eruptions probably occurred in 1905, 1896 and 1848. The initial volcanic event probably occurred in 3090 BC ±500 years. Mount Evermann (Spanish: Cerro Evermann) is the name given to the summit dome complex, in honor of ichthyologist Barton Warren Evermann. The island's surface is broken by furrows, small craters, and numerous ravines, and covered in lava domes, lava flows and cinder cones.
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.
There is a naval station, established in 1957, with a population of 250 (staff and families), living in a village with a church, that stands on the western side of Bahía Vargas Lozano, a small cove with a rocky beach, about 800 meters (870 yards) east of Cabo Regla, the southernmost point of the island. The station is served by a dock, a local helipad and Isla Socorro airport, located six kilometers to the north. There is a fresh water spring about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) northwest of Cabo Regla, at the shoreline of Ensenada Grayson (or Caleta Grayson). This is brackish and sometimes covered by the sea at high tide. In the 1950s, a small freshwater seep was known to exist some 45 meters (49 yards) inland at Bahía Lucio Gallardo Pavon (Binner's Cove), 800 meters (870 yards) northwest of the naval station.
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 ("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).
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.
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