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Amygdaloid Island is an island in
Amygdaloid Island is an island in Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...
off the northeastern shore of Isle Royale
Isle Royale (, ) is an Islands of the Great Lakes, island of the Great Lakes located in the northwest of Lake Superior and part of the U.S. state of Michigan. The island and the 450 surrounding smaller islands and waters make up Isle Royale Na ...
. It is within the boundary of Isle Royale National Park
Isle Royale National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States consisting of Isle Royale, along with more than 400 small adjacent islands and the surrounding waters of Lake Superior, in Michigan.
...
, a national park
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
located within the U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. The island is protected and patrolled by a seasonal ranger station operated by the U.S. National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
.
Geography
Amygdaloid Island is approximately 3.8 miles (6 km) long but no more than 0.25 miles (0.4 km) wide. Like the rest of theIsle Royale
Isle Royale (, ) is an Islands of the Great Lakes, island of the Great Lakes located in the northwest of Lake Superior and part of the U.S. state of Michigan. The island and the 450 surrounding smaller islands and waters make up Isle Royale Na ...
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...
, the island is an ancient ridge of basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
oriented from the southwest to the northeast.
Amygdaloid Island is separated by Amygdaloid Channel from Isle Royale. It had relatively low visitation until the 1990s, when the growth of sea kayaking
A sea kayak or touring kayak is a kayak used for the sport of Watercraft paddling, paddling on open waters of lakes, bays, and oceans. Sea kayaks are seaworthy small boats with a covered deck and the ability to incorporate a spray deck. They trad ...
made it possible for human-powered visitors to approach the island. The waters of Lake Superior around Amygdaloid Island are notoriously dangerous, and inexperienced kayakers are not encouraged to navigate them.
Geology
The island is the site of the ''Amygdaloid Island Flow'', a deposit of basaltic lava with silica inclusions. After the lava cooled, the inclusions hardened into pinkagate
Agate ( ) is a banded variety of chalcedony. Agate stones are characterized by alternating bands of different colored chalcedony and sometimes include macroscopic quartz. They are common in nature and can be found globally in a large number of d ...
specimens. The agates of Amygdaloid Island are characteristically almond-shaped or amygdaloidal, hence the name ''Amygdaloid''.
See also
*List of islands in Isle Royale National Park
The following is a list of islands in Isle Royale National Park. Located in Lake Superior, Isle Royale is the second largest island in the Great Lakes system, after only Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. At , the island of Isle Royale itself ...
References