Antarctic Region > Heard Island and McDonald Islands > Geography

View full size

Area > Comparative slightly more than two times the size of Washington, DC
Area > Land	412 sq km		[196th of 238]
Area > Total	412 sq km		[207th of 250]
Area > Water	0 sq km		[187th of 239]
Climate	antarctic
Coastline	101.9 km		[178th of 271]
Elevation extremes > Highest point Mawson Peak, on Big Ben 2,745 m
Elevation extremes > Lowest point	Indian Ocean 0 m
Geographic coordinates	53 06 S, 72 31 E
Geography > Note Mawson Peak on Heard Island is the highest Australian mountain (at 2,745 meters, it is taller than Mt. Kosciuszko in Australia proper), and one of only two active volcanoes located in Australian territory, the other being McDonald Island; in 1992, McDonald Island broke its dormancy and began erupting; it has erupted several times since, the most recent being in 2005
Land use > Arable land	0%		[228th of 258]
Land use > Permanent crops	0%		[215th of 258]
Location islands in the Indian Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica
Map references	Antarctic Region
Maritime claims > Territorial sea	12 nautical mile		[76th of 191]
Natural hazards Mawson Peak, an active volcano, is on Heard Island
Natural resources	fish
Population density	0 people per sqkm		[245th of 256]
tallest mountains > Mountain	Mawson Peak
Terrain Heard Island - 80% ice-covered, bleak and mountainous, dominated by a large massif (Big Ben) and an active volcano (Mawson Peak); McDonald Islands - small and rocky

Related links:

• Forum discussion > Geography
• Searching for Geographic Information about American States? Try StateMaster
• Stay updated with current stat feeds! Subscribe to the Geography RSS / Atom feeds
•  Subscribe to our popular Geography factoids RSS / Atom feeds
• Save this page on  del.icio.us / furl / your bookmarks

More facts and figures on Heard Island and McDonald Islands