Traversay Islands

The group was discovered in November 1819 by a Russian expedition under Bellingshausen,{{cite book|last=Paine|first=Lincoln P.|title=Ships of discovery and exploration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J9W4QO1b_A8C&pg=PA152|accessdate=6 January 2012|date=15 November 2000|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-395-98415-4|page=152}} who named them for Jean-Baptiste Prevost de Sansac, Marquis de Traversay (1754–1831), a French naval officer who joined the Russian navy in 1791, at the request of an émigré Frenchman in Russian service, admiral Nassau-Siegen.{{cite book |editor-last=LeMasurier |editor-first=W. E. |editor2=Thomson, J. W. | title = Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans | publisher = American Geophysical Union | date = 1990 | isbn = 0-87590-172-7 | page = 512 pp }} He was Minister of Naval Affairs at Saint Petersburg, 1809–28, and chief promoter of Bellingshausen's Antarctic voyage. The name was previously transliterated as Traverse because it was incorrectly thought that the man commemorated was a Russian.

Zavodovski Island ({{coord|56|18|S|27|34|W|}}) lies {{convert|350|km|mi|0}} southeast of South Georgia Island. It is the northernmost of the South Sandwich Islands and the nearest to South Georgia. The island is approximately {{convert|5|km|mi|1|abbr=off}} across with a peak elevation of {{convert|551|m|ft|lk=on|abbr=off}} above sea level. The stratovolcano Mount Asphyxia dominates the western side of the island while the eastern half is a low-lying lava plain.

Mount Asphyxia is believed to be active with fresh lava reported in 1830 and numerous indications of activity since.{{cite book|author=G. A. French|title=The Antarctic pilot: comprising the coasts of Antarctica and all islands southward of the usual route of vessels|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hIkNAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=6 January 2012|year=1974|publisher=Hydrographer of the Navy|page=146}} Approximately 50% of the island is composed of tephra. The island is home to around two million breeding chinstrap penguins,{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia Of The Aquatic World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppx3itgk5kQC&pg=PA177|accessdate=6 January 2012|date=January 2004|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=978-0-7614-7418-0|page=177}} making it one of the world's largest penguin colonies.{{cite book|author=Laboratoire de cryptogamie (Muséum national d'histoire naturelle)|title=Cryptogamie: Algologie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TyUmAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=6 January 2012|year=2004|publisher=Laboratoire de cryptogamie, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle|page=262}} Zavodovski Island featured in the initial part of BBC’s Planet Earth II natural history television series, narrated by David Attenborough and first shown in the UK on 6 November 2016. The programme described life in the harsh environment for the 1.5 million Chinstrap penguins – the largest penguin colony in the world.

Visokoi Island ({{coord|56|42|S|27|12|W|}}), which lies to the southeast of Zavodovski, is {{convert|7.2|km|mi|abbr=in}} long and {{convert|4.8|km|mi|0|abbr=in}} wide, capped by Mount Hodson, a volcanic peak ({{convert|1005|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}). The peak is named after Sir Arnold Weinholt Hodson, a governor of the Falkland Islands. Visokoi means "high".{{cite book|last=Mills|first=William James|title=Exploring polar frontiers: a historical encyclopedia. A — L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYdBH4dOOM4C&pg=PA680|accessdate=6 January 2012|year=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-422-0|page=680}} The island's eastern tip, Point Irving, is named for the leader of a British exploratory and mapping expedition, Commander John J. Irving; the father of British writer and Holocaust denier, David Irving.

Leskov Island ({{coord|56|40|S|28|10|W|}}) is located to the west of the main arc of the South Sandwich Islands and is less than {{convert|1.5|km|mi|1}} long, and lies {{convert|48|km|mi|abbr=on}} west of Visokoi. It was named by Bellingshausen after the third lieutenant on the expedition ship Vostok. It is composed of andesitic rather than basaltic lava.{{cite book|title=Transactions of the Caribbean Geological Conference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFAcAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=6 January 2012|year=1968|publisher=Queens College Press|page=165}} The subduction zone forming the South Sandwich Trench lies to the east of the island arc.

• List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
• List of Antarctic islands north of 60° S

{{Reflist}}

• [http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/36017637.jpg Photograph of Zavodovski Island]
• [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B8pzP6htoHU/TiK3cjL7oZI/AAAAAAAAASg/FBJvMlJRoBI/s1600/Zavodoski---Mt-Curry----John-Smellie-British-Antarctic-Surv.jpg Aerial photograph of Zavodovski Island] This image belongs to John Smellie, Leicester University
• [http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Visokoi-Island-600x250.jpg Photograph of Visokoi Island]

{{coord|56|36|S|27|43|W|display=title}}

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Category:Islands of the South Sandwich Islands

Category:Volcanoes of the Atlantic Ocean

Category:Volcanoes of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands