In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, there is a Mid-Atlantic ridge that stretches for more than 15,000 kilometers from north to south from Iceland to Bouvet Island, and the entire ridge winds into an S shape, dividing the Atlantic Ocean into two deep-water basins stretching parallel to the ridge. The ridges of the ridge protrude from the sea surface to become islands and reefs, such as Iceland, the Azores, Ascension Island, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha, Bouvet Island, etc., and the only reef in the South Atlantic Ocean is San Pedro-São Paulo Reef.
The only reef in the South Atlantic ocean is the San Pedro-São Paulo Reef.
It is a rocky reef not an island of the San Pedro-São Paulo reefs
San Pedro-São Paulo Reef, known in Brazil as Arquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo (i.e. San Pedro-São Paulo Archipelago), is located in the Atlantic Ocean nearest 965 km off the northeast coast of Brazil, about 2,000 km from the nearest point on the African continent, at latitude 00°55'1" N and longitude 29°20'45"W. The archipelago is called "archipelago" because San Pedro-São Paulo Reef is not a single reef, but consists of 6 main reefs, 4 reef beaches and many reefs.
San Pedro-São Paulo Reef is located in the Atlantic Ocean, nearest 965 km off the northeast coast of Brazil, and about 2,000 km from the nearest point on the African continent
According to the internationally accepted definition of islands and reefs, San Pedro-São Paulo can only be a "reef", not an "island", let alone an archipelago.
However, according to the internationally accepted definition of islands and reefs, San Pedro-São Paulo can only be a "reef", not an "island", and not an archipelago, it is because it must be those large areas that are out of the water all year round, and there is usually fresh water, vegetation, and land that can be used for human or other organisms to survive can be called "islands", and the rocks in the sea like San Pedro-São Paulo that have no fresh water and no vegetation can only be counted as "reefs", and the parts that are exposed to the water all year round are "open reefs", and the reefs below the water surface are reefs. Submerging at high tide and exposing at low tide is dry out of the reef.
The rocks in the sea, such as San Pedro-São Paulo, which have no fresh water and no vegetation, can only be regarded as "reefs", and the part that is exposed to the water all year round is "open reef".
As for "archipelagos", it is required to concentrate more than 2 islands in a narrow area to form an "island group", a large-scale island group is called an "archipelago" or "island", and the archipelagos arranged in a row are "archipelagos". In confirming sovereignty, the outcropping islands enjoy sovereignty according to who was the first country to land and effectively control, while the "reef" was dominated by the first country to work there and effectively control it. Thus, San Pedro-São Paulo Reef is more precisely called "San Pedro-São Paulo Reef" or "San Pedro-São Paulo Rocks".
When sovereignty is confirmed, the outcropping "reef" is dominated by the first country to work there and effectively control it.
Article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea provides that the territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of an island are defined in the same way as in other land territories.
In international law, adhering to the principle of "land determines sea rights", article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that the territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of an island are defined in the same way as other land territories, but there should be no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf on the reefs that cannot sustain human habitation or their own economic life. But there is a loophole here, that is, it only states that the reef cannot have a territorial sea continental shelf, but does not regulate the ownership of the sovereignty of the reef (because the world's accepted jurisprudence is that land rules the seas, and the Convention on the Law of the Sea does not regulate the issue of land sovereignty).
Rock reefs that cannot sustain human habitation or their own economic life should not have exclusive economic zones or continental shelves.
So this loophole gives more possibilities for operation, because the San Pedro-São Paulo reef area is very small, only seabirds, insects inhabit, and impermanent residents, so in 1998 the Brazilian Navy established a meteorological science station on this reef, forming a de facto control, so the San Pedro-São Paulo reef became the northeastern pole of Brazilian territory. The waters off the reef of San Pedro-São Paulo are also important fishing areas in northeastern Brazil, and although not as diverse as the Caribbean Sea, they contain a large number of endemic species.
The waters off the reef of San Pedro-São Paulo are also important fishing areas in northeastern Brazil.
The average annual temperature of the San Pedro-São Paulo reefs is 23.5°C to 31.5°C, which is very suitable for plankton breeding and thus provides bait for many fish schools.
For example, there are about 15 species of reef building polyps recorded in Brazil, of which 6 species are endemic to the region, and about 95 species of fish have been recorded, including two endemic species, the Noronian mallow and the Rocas shark. Phytoplankton species around the islands close to the deep sea are also widely distributed, thanks to the tropical rainforest climate here, with an average annual temperature of 23.5 °C to 31.5 °C, which is very suitable for plankton breeding, which in turn provides bait for many fish schools.
San Pedro-São Paulo Reef is formed by volcanic rocks rising from the ocean floor at a depth of about 4,000 meters.
A peak in one of the largest submarine mountains on Earth
San Pedro-São Paulo Reef is formed by volcanic rocks rising from the ocean floor about 4,000 meters deep, but it is just an inconspicuous peak of this huge submarine mountain system. Because this huge submarine mountain system is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, or Atlantic Ridge, it starts from Iceland in the north, runs through the Atlantic Ocean in the south, reaches Bouvet Island in the south, and then turns northeast to connect with the Middle Ridge of the Indian Ocean, with a total length of about 17,000 kilometers, a width of 1500-2000 kilometers, accounting for about 1/3 of the width of the Atlantic Ocean, an area of 22.28 million square kilometers, accounting for 1/4 of the area of the Atlantic Ocean floor, and is the most important and prominent topographic unit of the Atlantic Ocean floor.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge stretches from Iceland in the north, through the Atlantic Ocean, to Bouvet Island in the south, and then turns northeast to connect with the Mid-Indian Ocean Ridge, with a total length of about 17,000 kilometers.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is only a small part of the mid-ocean ridge of the entire Earth, stretching for about 80,000 kilometers and hundreds to thousands of kilometers wide.
However, the mid-Atlantic ridge is only a small part of the entire mid-ocean ridge of the earth, stretching for about 80,000 kilometers, hundreds to thousands of kilometers wide, with a relative height of about 2,000-3,000 meters, and an area of about 33% of the world's total oceanic ridge. As the center of ocean floor expansion and the production zone of the new crust, the scorching magma in the crater at the middle ocean ridge is constantly rising from the mantle, solidifying into a new ocean crust, and constantly expanding to the sides, so the mid-ocean ridge is the most active area of the modern crust, and volcanic activity makes the peak ridge protrude from the sea surface into an island (see "Mid-Ocean Ridge: The Scars of the Earth Longer than the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, stretching for 80,000 kilometers of submarine mountains").
Above the mid-Atlantic ridge are Iceland, the Azores, San Pedro-Paul Reef, Ascension Island, Saint Helena, Tristan da Cunha.
The Romanches Fault Zone (the deepest of the Romanches Trench is 7,856 meters) is the middle of the Atlantic Ridge cut off into north and south sections and staggered by more than 1,000 kilometers.
Thus consisting of a series of narrow and fractured parallel ridge ridges, the S-shaped mid-Atlantic ridge forms volcanic islands such as Iceland, the Azores, San Pedro-São Paulo Reef, Ascension Island, Saint Helena, Tristan da Cunha, Bouvet Island and so on. Moreover, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is also cut and staggered by countless transverse fault zones, which are nearly perpendicular to the mid-ridge, and appear as deep linear grooves in the terrain, of which the Romansh Fault Zone (the deepest Romansh Trench is 7856 meters) is to cut the Mid-Atlantic Ridge into two sections and stagger more than 1,000 kilometers, while the San Pedro-São Paulo Reef is at the starting point of the Northern Middle Atlantic Ridge.
The deepest point of the Romanche Trench is 7856 meters
Can the blowing of the island bring san Pedro-São Paulo reef back to life?
At this time, some people may wonder, since the San Pedro-São Paulo reef is geographically important and the fish is abundant, then Brazil directly artificially builds islands and expands the area of the island reef. In fact, to answer this question, we must first understand the four major classifications of islands: mainland islands, volcanic islands, coral islands and sedimentary islands. Among them, the mainland island is because of the movement of the earth's crustal plate, through the sinking or rising movement of the island, such as larger area and closer to the mainland, such as Greenland, Taiwan Island, Hainan Island and so on are mainland islands.
There are four major classifications of islands: mainland islands, volcanic islands, coral islands and sedimentary islands.
As for the sedimentary islands, they are mainly at the mouth of the river, due to the action of the seawater, the alluvial island formed by the silt and silt, such as Chongming Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River; Coral islands are islands formed by the non-accumulation of coral remains of marine organisms, such islands are only distributed in tropical sea areas suitable for the growth of corals, and the area is small, the altitude is very low, and most of them are only one or two meters above sea level, such as the Spratly Islands and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean; The last type of volcanic island is an island formed by the continuous eruption of submarine volcanoes and the accumulation of magma cooling, such as the Hawaiian Islands and San Pedro-St. Paul Reef.
Blowing and filling the island is the use of dredgers to blow sand around the reclamation point into the target circle and pile sand to create land.
While piling sand and creating land, the whole area is surrounded by piling boats to fix the edges, and compacting the loose soil with a strong ramming machine.
Blow-fill Fiery Cross Island under construction.
The so-called "blowing and filling island" is not the traditional dredging and handling, but the use of dredgers at the reclamation point to blow the surrounding sand into the target circle, pile sand to create land, and at the same time use piling boats to fix the edges, and use a strong ramming machine to compact the loose soil. Therefore, it will be found that if you want to achieve blow-fill islands, you need a lot of sand, and whether it is a mainland island, a sedimentary island or a coral island, there is enough sea sand to use, and for volcanic islands, in fact, magma erupts out of the sea to form, which is simply the tip of a submarine volcano exposed to the sea surface.
Fiery Cross Reef is a large atoll in the Nansha Islands, with an area of 108 square kilometers, Fiery Cross Island is a corner of the southwest of Fiery Cross Reef, which is the abbreviation of "Fiery Cross Reef Southwest Island".
In 2015, Fiery Cross Reef was the third largest island in the Spratly Islands after Mischief Reef and Subi Reef.
Fiery Cross Island has an area of 2.8 square kilometers, with Fiery Cross Island Airport and Fiery Cross Hospital, which will be China's largest material distribution center in Nansha.
For large volcanic islands, they can also be built by digging and transporting, but for smaller reefs, especially rocky reefs such as San Pedro-São Paulo Reef, there is no sea sand to use. In fact, within a short distance of the San Pedro-São Paulo Reef is the ridge top, which is 2000-2500 meters deep. Moreover, in the ocean blow filling island, the technical requirements are very high, there are only a few countries in the world with such technology and equipment, and the capital requirements are even more astronomical, referring to the estimation of 100.8 billion yuan for the blowing and filling island of Huangyan Island.
Scarborough Shoal is a large atoll with a slightly isosceles triangle, 15 km long from east to west, 15 km wide from north to south, and about 55 km perimeter with an area of about 150 square kilometers
The interior of Huangyan Island forms a natural lagoon with an area of 130 square kilometers and a water depth of 10 to 20 meters. Excellent fishing grounds and shelter from the wind.
The calculation method is as follows: Huangyan Island is 15 kilometers long from east to west, 15 kilometers wide from north to south, and the surrounding length is about 55 kilometers, the reef area except for the central lagoon is 139 square kilometers, and the water depth of the entire reef disk is 0.5–3 meters, which is calculated according to the average -2 meters. And blow filling is generally 3.5 meters above the sea surface, that is to say, the bottom line of the blowing fill thickness is also 5 meters, so calculated, it needs 695 million cubic meters of sand, because the Huangyan Island reef is outside the deep sea, the earth needs to be transported from the inland, with reference to the bulk freight price, the freight from the mainland to Huangyan Island is about 105 yuan / cubic meter, and the other costs are about 40 yuan / cubic meter, that is, the unit fraud is 145 yuan / cubic meter.
The top surface of Scarborough Shoal is generally 0.5–3 meters underwater, except for hundreds of large reefs (ranging from 1–4 square meters) that surround the lake in a strip.
Huangyan Island belongs to the Zhongsha Islands, which is the easternmost island reef in its interior and the only island in the Zhongsha Islands in the South China Sea that is exposed to the water.
The waters of Huangyan Dao, like the Spratly Islands, are an important sea passage and a choke point for entering and leaving Subic Bay.
So calculated, the cost of building an island alone is 100.8 billion yuan, not to mention the astronomical investment in the later construction, green plants, living facilities and other projects, no wonder some people say that the cost of filling an island in Nansha is the price of an aircraft carrier (Shandong ship is about 3 billion US dollars), it seems that what is said is true. Therefore, for Brazil, the cost of 3 billion US dollars cannot be obtained, the island-making artifacts such as the Tian Whale and the Junyang No. 1 cannot be bought (China restricts exports), and the San Pedro-São Paulo Reef is even more innately insufficient, so it is still the most cost-effective to build a meteorological science station to clarify the ownership of sovereignty.
Gaze out at the sunset over San Pedro-São Paulo Reef
This is san pedro-são paulo reef, a volcanic rocky island towering over the mid-Atlantic ridge, an uninhabited but rich fishing resource, and the northeasternmost pole of Brazilian territory.
Last Edition Review: Trindade Island: Strategic locations can only generate maximum value with the blessing of strong national power
Remarks: This article is only a word of the family, welcome to correct and forward. In addition, the picture in the article is quoted from the Internet, if there is a copyright private link, please delete.