Lake Armor
France · Europe
About
Lake Armor is a fjord lake located on the central plateau of the main island of the Kerguelen archipelago, in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
It was so named by the Mouzon mission in 1952 after a Breton noun which means "the land close to the sea".
It extends in a northwesterly south-easterly direction at an altitude of about 1 m, over a length of about 3.7 km (2.3 mi) and a maximum width of 700 m (2,300 ft), covering around 200 ha (490 acres). From the south, a stream passing down the Volcan du Diable feeds the lake, having collected the waters coming from the slopes of the volcano as well as those of the Val d'Enfer and the Val des Trolls, and thus their lakes. Another stream feeds the lake from the north. Lake Armor flows into the marine waters of the Gulf of Morbihan in the Hurley Bay.
Near the lake is the only known spot in Kerguelen of Elaphoglossum randii, a small fern endemic to the sub-Antarctic islands of the Indian Ocean, which occurs elsewhere only in the Marion and Prince Edward Islands.
The southern beaches of Lake Armor are also known for their curious little pebbles, rolled by the waves and nicknamed "Armor dicks" because of their evocative shape.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.