Riesco Island () lies at west of the

Brunswick Peninsula Brunswick Peninsula () is a large peninsula in Magallanes y la Antártica Region, Patagonia, Chile, at . Geography The Brunswick Peninsula is triangular in shape, joined to the mainland in the north by a wide isthmus. It widens to almost in t ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It is one of the largest islands in Chile, with an area of . Its highest point is Mount Atalaya at . The island is bordered by two large piedmont embayments: Otway Sound and

Skyring Sound Seno Skyring is a large inland sound lying north of Riesco Island and south of mainland South America in southern Chile. Alternatively called Skyring Sound, this natural waterway occupies a valley blocked by a large terminal moraine left by the ret ...

. The narrow

Fitzroy Channel The Fitzroy Channel is a river in the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region in southern Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and ...

connects both bodies of water and separates the island from mainland

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

. The island is separated from the southern part of the

Muñoz Gamero Peninsula Muñoz Gamero Peninsula () is a peninsula in Chile. It is bordered on the west by the Smyth Channel and is connected to the Patagonia mainland by a narrow isthmus, between Skyring Sound to the south and the Obstrucción estuary to the north. The p ...

by another narrow channel, the Geronimo Channel. Riesco Island hosts Chile's largest known

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

reserves, with mining activities dating back to 1880. There were the mines ''Magdalena'', ''Elena'' and ''Josefina''. In 1940 ''Magdalena'' and ''Josefina'' produced 100,000 tons.Article in Chilean newspaper La Prensa Austral
El canal Fitz Roy
by Silvestre Fugellie11 on 11 July 2012, retrieved on 12 February 2013 It is thought to contain more than 300 million tonnes of low-quality coal in three deposits located in the colonized portion of the island: ''Río Eduardo'', ''Elena'' and ''Estancia Invierno''. Numerous

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

s can be found on other parts of the island. In the northwest, an icefield is the source of 7 glaciers and ''Cerro Ladrillero'' has 12 glaciers on its slopes. In the southwestern portion of the island, ''Córdova Peninsula'' marks the eastern limit of the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...

and is home to several mountain glaciers.

References

External links

* UN SYSTEM-WIDE EARTHWATCH Web Sit
Riesco Island
Islands of Magallanes Region {{MagellanAntarctic-geo-stub