File:Balls_Pyramid_near_Lord_Howe_Island.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Ball's Pyramid
Sign in to savean island and an erosional remnant of a shield volcano southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific
Key facts
- Location
- Pacific Ocean
- Length
- 1,100 m (3600 ft)
- Width
- 300 m (1000 ft)
- Highest elevation
- 572 m (1877 ft)
- State
- New South Wales
via Wikipedia infobox
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Ball's Pyramid is an uninhabited islet in the Pacific Ocean located 20 kilometres (12 mi; 11 nmi) southeast of Lord Howe Island, between Australia and New Zealand. The steep rocky basalt outcrop is the eroded plug of a shield volcano and caldera that formed 6.4 million years ago. It is 572 metres (1,877 ft) high, 1,100 metres (3,609 ft) long and only 300 metres (984 ft) across, making it the tallest volcanic stack in the world.
Ball's Pyramid, which is part of Australia's Lord Howe Island Marine Park, is positioned in the centre of a submarine shelf surrounded by rough seas, which makes any approach difficult. The pyramid is home to the only remaining wild population of the giant Lord Howe Island stick insect, thought to be extinct since 1920 until their rediscovery in 2001.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ball's Pyramid” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.