Ball's Pyramid
Australia · Oceania
About
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.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.