Blup Blup Island is a small forested island off the northern coast of
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
about 30 km offshore from
Cape Girgir and is considered part of the
Schouten Islands. It is located at latitude S 3°30'46" and longitude E 144°35'16". The island has a small population and is theoretically part of the Papuan province of
East Sepik, although officially it is still a
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its in ...
.
The island is
volcanic
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...
(a
stratovolcano
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and peri ...
) and a weak
thermal area exists on the north west coast. The island is only 3.5 km wide with an irregular coastline and ancient
lava flows
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or und ...
. It is thought that Blup Blup last erupted in the
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...
.
Fresh water
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does incl ...
is available on the island from wells. Other islands in the vicinity include
Kadovar
Kadovar is a volcanic island in Papua New Guinea northeast of the much larger island of New Guinea. The volcano erupted in January 2018 and the eruption is ongoing as of 2023, although the activity level is generally considered to be low. There w ...
and
Wei Island. There is a small islet about 200 m off the south-west shore of the island called Mut Mut, where there is a
geodetic monitoring facility.
History
The first recorded sighting by Europeans of Kadovar Island was by the Spanish navigator
Iñigo Órtiz de Retes on 21 July 1545, when on board of the
carrack
A carrack (; ; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal. Evolved from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for European trade ...
''San Juan'' tried to return from
Tidore to
New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
.
[Coello, Francisco. "Conflicto hispano-alemán". ''Boletín de Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid'', t.XIX. 2º semestre 1885, Madrid, p.317.]
See also
*
List of volcanoes in Papua New Guinea
References
*
Mut Mut in Papua New Guinea Geodetic Monitoring Site
Islands of Papua New Guinea
Volcanoes of Papua New Guinea
Holocene stratovolcanoes
East Sepik Province
{{EastSepikProvince-geo-stub