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The geography of New Caledonia〔Previously known officially as the "Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies" ((フランス語:Territoire de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et dépendances)), then simply as the "Territory of New Caledonia" (French: ''Territoire de la Nouvelle-Calédonie''), the official French name is now only ''Nouvelle-Calédonie'' (Organic Law of 19 March 1999, article 222 IV — see ()). It should be noted that French courts often continue to use the appellation ''Territoire de la Nouvelle-Calédonie''.〕 (''Nouvelle-Calédonie''), an overseas collectivity of France located in the subregion of Melanesia, makes the continental island group unique in the southwest Pacific. Among other things, the island chain has played a role in preserving unique biological lineages from the Mesozoic. It served as a waystation in the expansion of the predecessors of the Polynesians, the Lapita culture. Under the Free French it was a vital naval base for Allied Forces during the War in the Pacific. The archipelago is located east of Australia, north of New Zealand, south of the Equator, and just west of Fiji and Vanuatu. New Caledonia comprises a main island, Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands. Approximately half the size of Taiwan, the group has a land area of . The islands have a coastline of . New Caledonia claims an exclusive fishing zone to a distance of and a territorial sea of from shore. New Caledonia is one of the northernmost parts of an almost entirely (93%) submerged continent called Zealandia which rifted away from Antarctica between 130 and 85 million years ago (mya), and from Australia 85–60 mya. (Most of the elongated triangular continental mass of Zealandia is a subsurface plateau. New Zealand is a mountainous above-water promontory in its center, and New Caledonia is a promontory ridge on the continent's northern edge.) New Caledonia itself rifted away from Australia 66 mya, and subsequently drifted in a north-easterly direction, reaching its present position about 50 mya.〔Boyer & Giribet 2007: 355〕 Given its long stability and isolation, New Caledonia serves as a unique island refugium — a sort of biological 'ark' — hosting a unique ecosystem and preserving Gondwanan plant and animal lineages no longer found elsewhere.〔"New Caledonia has long been considered a Gondwanan refuge where archaic groups have survived for 80Ma." "(New Caledonia: a very old Darwinian island? )" Philippe Grandcolas,1 * Jérôme Murienne, ''et al.'', ''Philos Trans R Soc'' Lond B Biol Sci. 2008 October 27; 363(1508): 3309–3317.〕〔a window into the unique evolutionary history of this part of the world. Initially this biota lived along the New Zealand-New Caledonia coast of Gondwana, but following Cretaceous breakup of this southern supercontinent the fossils record terrestrial and marine evolution on and around the New Zealand "ark" set adrift in the Southwest Pacific." See HAYWARD B.W. (2009).- (Protecting fossil sites in New Zealand ).- In: LIPPS J.H. & GRANIER B.R.C. (eds.), PaleoParks - The Protection and conservation of fossil sites worldwide.- Carnets de Géologie / Notebooks on Geology, Brest, 2009〕〔for scholarly usage of the exact term "biological ark" in context of the Gondwanan breakup: "This globally significant ‘biological ark’, is attributed to Australia’s long geographic isolation from other parts of the world." "(Potential of ecotourism to protect natural remnant areas within the urban environment )" Fiona Prince The University of Western Australia, Department of Environmental Engineering, 2002〕〔At the end of Jurassic (135 My), Gondwana started to break apart. The oldest grounds of current New Caledonia were then located on the eastern margin of this continent as part of the Australian block. Towards the end of Cretaceous, about 85 million years ago, this old New Caledonia broke away and so did New Zealand. New-Caledonia was then isolated. . . . As a result, New Caledonia is now a kind of "Jurassic Park" particularly with regards to its vegetation which is highly endemic and which has kept archaic characteristics." (Gondwana super-continent. )〕〔Jean-Jacques Espirat, author of ''Étude géologique de régions de la Nouvelle Calédonie'' and member of the Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres compares it to Noah's Ark: "La Grande Terre de la Nouvelle-Calédonie s'est séparée il y a 70 millions d'années (au Crétacé terminal) du continent de Gondwana (groupant à l'origine les terres qui se sont séparées pour former l'Australie, l'Antarctique, l'Amérique du Sud, l'Inde, Madagascar et l'Afrique). Telle l'Arche de Noé cette Nouvelle Calédonie de la fin du Crétacé embarquait la flore de cette époque." (La faune et la flore de Nouvelle-Calédonie. ) (French)〕 ==Composition== New Caledonia is made up of a main island, the Grande Terre, and several smaller islands, the Belep archipelago to the north of the Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands to the east of the Grande Terre, the (Isle of Pines) to the south of the Grande Terre, the Chesterfield Islands and Bellona Reefs further to the west. Each of these four island groups has a different geological origin: * The New Caledonia archipelago, which includes Grande Terre, Belep, and the Île des Pins was born as a series of folds of the earth's mantle between the Permian period (299-251 mya) and the Paleogene and Neogene periods (66 - 1.5 mya). This mantle obduction created large areas of peridotite and a bedrock rich in nickel. * The Loyalty Islands, a hundred kilometers to the east, are coral and limestone islands built on top of ancient collapsed volcanoes originating due to subduction at the Vanuatu trench. * The Chesterfield Islands, 550 km to the north-west, are reef outcroppings of the oceanic plateau. * The Matthew and Hunter Islands, at 450 and 520 km east, respectively, are volcanic islands that form the southern end of the arc of the New Hebrides The Grande Terre is by far the largest of the islands, and the only mountainous island. It has an area of , and is elongated northwest-southeast, in length and wide. A mountain range runs the length of the island, with five peaks over . The highest point is Mont Panié at elevation. The total area of New Caledonia is , of those being land. A territorial dispute exists with regard to the uninhabited Matthew and Hunter Islands, which are claimed by both France (as part of New Caledonia) and Vanuatu. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Geography of New Caledonia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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