Английская Википедия:Haystack Island
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:About Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Use Australian English Шаблон:Infobox islands Haystack Island is an island located in Investigator Strait off the south coast of Yorke Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia about Шаблон:Convert south-west of Stenhouse Bay. Since 1972, it has been part of the Althorpe Islands Conservation Park.
Description
Haystack Island is about Шаблон:Convert south-west of Stenhouse Bay. It is described as ‘a narrow wall of sheer cliffs, undermined, indented and marked by fresh scars and rockfalls’ and that ‘has been eroded to a series of tall lobes connected by thin necks of rock that narrow to an almost knife-edge ridge’. It is surrounded by a ‘fringing wave-cut reef’. The island is about Шаблон:Convert long by a maximum width of about Шаблон:Convert and with the tallest lobe having a height of Шаблон:Convert. Its long axis is aligned in a north-west to south-east direction.[1][2]
Access is reported as best done in calm seas and that the summit ridge can be reached from the island’s east coast via a rubble cone of rubble, taking care when climbing the slope’s ‘loose and crumbling’ surface. A survey carried out in 1982 by the responsible government agency used a helicopter to access the island’s summit.[1][3] A number of sources consider Haystack Island along with the Althorpe Islands and Seal Island to be a group of islands known as the Althorpe Islands Group.[4][5][6]
Formation, geology and oceanography
Haystack Island was formed about 7350 years ago after sea levels rose at the start of the Holocene thereby separating Yorke Peninsula from Kangaroo Island.[7] Haystack Island consists of a seam of Bridgewater Formation calcarenite that sits on a largely submerged ridge of Gleesons Landing Granite.[6][8] Haystack Island rises from a depth of Шаблон:Convert within Шаблон:Convert from its southern shore.[9]
Flora and fauna
Flora
A survey carried out in November 1982 found 11 species of plants making up a shrubland covering the island’s ridge including Grey Samphire, Marsh saltbush, and Nitre-bush in the deeper soils, and Cushion-bush, Round-leaved Pigface and Southern Sea-heath in the shallower soils.[1][3]
Fauna
A survey carried out in November 1982 reported evidence of the presence of the following vertebrate animals - the White-faced storm petrel by the presence of ‘shallow burrows’ used during the ‘summer breeding season’, Pacific gull by the existence of a ‘large midden of shell fragments was found on the highest dome, indicating a feeding site…’, and the White-bellied sea eagle by the presence of a ‘maintained nest’.[1][3]
Protected areas status
Since 1972, Haystack Island has been part of the Althorpe Islands Conservation Park. Since 2007, it has been a prohibited area where access is only allowed by permit in order to protect the breeding population of seabirds.[10][11][12] Since 2012, the waters surrounding its shores are part of a habitat protection zone located within the boundaries of the Southern Spencer Gulf Marine Park.[13]
References
Шаблон:Reflist Шаблон:Islands of South Australia Шаблон:Yorke Peninsula
