Fatutaka, Fatu Taka or Patu Taka (also known as Fataka and Mitre Island)
is a small
volcanic island
Geologically, a volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term high island can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often formed ...
in
Temotu Province
Temotu (or Te Motu, literally "the island" in Polynesian) is the easternmost province of Solomon Islands. The province was formerly known as Santa Cruz Islands Province. It consists, essentially, of two chains of islands which run parallel to ...
, in the nation of
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...
, south-west
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
.
The easternmost island in Solomon Islands, Fatutaka is located southeast of
Anuta and can be seen from there in clear weather.
Fatutaka and Anuta were discovered for Europeans by Admiral
Edward Edwards in 1791.
The island, located at , is a small rocky outcropping, rising to an elevation of . The total land area of the island is .
Human activities
The island's soil is rocky, and not especially fertile, although it has in the past been used as a
garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
ing location for the people of Anuta.
The population of Anuta, the closest inhabited island, regularly sail to Fatutaka to eat and collect sea-birds and their eggs.
The birds of Fatukaka have never been surveyed although the presence of
Frigatebird
Frigatebirds are a Family (biology), family of seabirds called Fregatidae which are found across all tropical and subtropical oceans. The five extant species are classified in a single genus, ''Fregata''. All have predominantly black plumage, l ...
,
Eastern Reef Egret,
Pacific Imperial Pigeon, and
Emerald Dove have been reported.
Geology
Fatutaka is one of numerous volcanic highs, islands and banks, in the north-western North Fiji Basin south of the fossil
Vitiaz Trench (10°30'–19°S, 169°–174°E). These highs are, however, located up to from the Vitiaz Trench and do not form a continuous chain derived from the trench, but are a series of massifs aligned on north–south trending faults. Anuta and Fatutaka consist 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 ...
ic lavas and
andesitic
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
breccia
Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix.
The word has its origins in the Italian language ...
s.
In the 1970s the formation of Anuta and Fatutaka 2.2 was attributed to volcanism in the Vitiaz island arc during the initial
back-arc
The back-arc region is the area behind a volcanic arc. In island arc, island volcanic arcs, it consists of back-arc basins of oceanic crust with abyssal zone, abyssal depths, which may be separated by remnant arcs, similar to island arcs. In conti ...
opening of the
North Fiji Basin. The Vitiaz Arc volcanoes were, however, displaced in an earlier episode and the formation of the islands is now attributed to renewed volcanism associated with a change in motion of the
Pacific Plate 2 Ma.
See also
*
Oceania
Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...
*
Pacific Islands
The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...
*
Santa Cruz Islands
References
Notes
Sources
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Islands of the Solomon Islands
Volcanoes of the Solomon Islands
{{Solomons-geo-stub