The Falkland Sound ( es, Estrecho de San Carlos) is a sea strait in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

. Running southwest-northeast, it separates

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and

East Falkland East Falkland ( es, Isla Soledad) is the largest island of the Falklands in the South Atlantic, having an area of or 54% of the total area of the Falklands. The island consists of two main land masses, of which the more southerly is known as La ...

Name

The sound was named by John Strong in 1690 for

Viscount Falkland Viscount Falkland is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. Referring to the royal burgh of Falkland in Fife, it was created in 1620, by King James VI, for Sir Henry Cary, who was born in Hertfordshire and had no previous connection to Scotla ...

, the name only later being applied to the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

and its two largest islands. The Spanish name "Estrecho de San Carlos" refers to the ship ''San Carlos'' which visited in 1768; confusingly the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

name "

San Carlos Water San Carlos Water is a bay/fjord on the west coast of East Falkland, facing onto the Falkland Sound. Name Despite its Spanish-sounding name, there is a wide discrepancy with the Spanish usage, for in Spanish "Estrecho de San Carlos" refers ...

" is a much smaller inlet on East Falkland - and gives its name to San Carlos,

Port San Carlos Port San Carlos is located on the northern bank of the inlet known as Port San Carlos, off San Carlos Water on the Western coast of East Falkland, in the Falkland Islands. It is sometimes nicknamed "KC" after former owner Keith Cameron. The po ...

and the San Carlos River. Captain John Strong of the ''Welfare'' made the first recorded landing on either of the main islands (West and East Falkland) on 29 January 1690, at Bold Cove (near

Port Howard Port Howard (Spanish/Argentine name: ''Puerto Mitre''; sometimes ''Puerto Howard'' in Spanish) is the largest settlement on West Falkland (unless Fox Bay is taken as one settlement, instead of two). It is in the east of the island, on an inlet o ...

) just off Falkland Sound.

Geography

Islands in the Falkland Sound include Narrows Island,

Great Island Great Island () is an island in Cork Harbour, at the mouth of the River Lee and close to the city of Cork, Ireland. The largest town on the island is Cobh (called Queenstown from 1849 to 1922). The island's economic and social history has hist ...

, the

Tyssen Islands The Tyssen Islands lie in Falkland Sound, between West Falkland and East Falkland. They lie off Lafonia in East Falkland, and between the Swan Islands and Great Island, Falkland Islands Great Island is one of the Falkland Islands. It lies to ...

and the Swan Islands. Eddystone Rock is at the northern end of the Sound; the Arch Islands are at the southern end. Settlements on it include

Ajax Bay Ajax Bay is a settlement on East Falkland, in the Falkland Islands. It is on the north west coast, on the shore of San Carlos Water, a few miles from Port San Carlos. It was mainly a refrigeration plant, and was developed by the Colonial Develo ...

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

, San Carlos on

and

Fox Bay Fox Bay ( es, Bahía Fox or ''Bahía Zorro'' ) is the second largest settlement on West Falkland in the Falkland Islands. It is located on a bay of the same name, and is on the south east coast of the island. It is often divided into Fox B ...

West Falkland West Falkland ( es, Isla Gran Malvina) is the second largest of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. It is a hilly island, separated from East Falkland by the Falkland Sound. Its area is , 37% of the total area of the islands. Its coastli ...

. A car ferry goes between Port Howard and New Haven. Inlets and bays on the Sound include: Fox Bay, Port Howard (West Falkland); Grantham Sound, San Carlos Water, Ruggles Bay (East Falkland)

Geology

About 400 million years ago the land that became the Falkland Islands and Antarctica's

Ellsworth Mountains The Ellsworth Mountains are the highest mountain ranges in Antarctica, forming a long and wide chain of mountains in a north to south configuration on the western margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Marie Byrd Land. They are bisected by Minnesota ...

, which had been part of Gondwana, broke from what is now Africa and drifted westwards relative to Africa. During the mid-Jurassic period (about 170 million years ago) the land fragment that was to become East Falkland and the land fragment that was to become West Falkland rotated about 120° relative to each other. As a result, the fold lines in

run almost south-west to north-east, parallel to the Sound. Those in the northern part of

run east-west, forming the eastern part of northern entrance to the Sound and bordering on the northern banks of

. The boundary between these two land fragments, the Falkland Sound Fault, lies close to and parallel with the western shore of the Sound.

Lafonia Lafonia is a peninsula forming the southern part of East Falkland, the largest of the Falkland Islands. Geography and geology Shaped like the letter "E", it is joined to the northern part of the island by an isthmus that is almost wide. Were ...

(the southern half of East Falkland), which is a much newer formation, has no folds. It is believed that at times during the

Pleistocene era The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

, the seabed was some lower than the present time–sufficient for the sound to be bridged.

References

* Southby-Tailyour, Ewen - ''Falkland Island Shores'' {{Falkland Islands topics Straits of the Falkland Islands