Major Islands And Archipelagos Codexery

Aleutian Islands

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Fourteen larger volcanic islands plus 55 smaller ones, along with 57 volcanoes, constitute the Aleutian chain, which sits at the northernmost extent of the Pacific Ring of Fire.[1][2] These islands rank among the Northern Pacific's most geographically remote locations.[2]

Geography and history

The axis of the archipelago trends southwest near mainland Alaska but changes to northwest at Tanaga Island, corresponding to a curve in volcanic fissures.[3] The vast majority of the chain is devoid of native trees, except for some stunted willows and a few coniferous remnants from the Russian period.[3] The first Aleutian occupants likely arrived following Beringian migrations, with the earliest archaeological sites on Unalaska dating to 9000 years before present.[4] The Aleutian Islands belonged to Russia until the 1867 Alaska Purchase transferred them to the U.S..[3]

During World War II, Japanese forces occupied Attu and Kiska in June 1942, one of only two invasions of the United States in North America during the war.[5][6] Subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the North American Plate commenced in the Early Eocene (55–50 Ma), leading to the formation of the Aleutian island arc.[7] Three stratigraphic units compose the islands' basement: a volcanic layer from the Eocene, a marine sedimentary layer from the Oligocene–Miocene, and a sedimentary and igneous layer from the Pliocene–Quaternary.[8] The eastern islands exhibit the highest general elevation, while the western islands show the lowest.[3]

Oceanic conditions bring moderate temperatures and heavy rain; Unalaska experiences roughly 250 rainy days annually.[3]

What the cited sources add

After the Japanese were defeated on Attu and withdrew from Kiska, Aleutian garrisons suffered some of the worst morale of any wartime American military posts due to absence of women and foul weather.[9] According to the Anchorage Daily News, Franklin Roosevelt, the U.S. president, traveled to Adak in August 1944—his sole visit to Alaska—where he conferred with commanders, shared a meal with soldiers, and went fishing.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Aleutian Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Aleutian Islands", Merriam-Webster; "Encyclopedia of the Arctic", Routledge, 2005, p. 333; Forchhammer, "On the Constitution of Sea-Water, at different Depths, and in different Latitudes", Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 1863, p. 131; Orth, "Dictionary of Alaska Place Names", U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967, p. 63–64 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Aleutian Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Aleutian Islands map showing locations of major island groups and islands mentioned in the text. *, Samalga Pass", September 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Aleutian Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Aleutian Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Corbett, "Culture and Archaeology of the Ancestral Unangax/Aleut of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska", Springer International, 2023 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Aleutian Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Domenech, "Op-Ed: U.S. Territories, Not States, Bear the Scars of World War II", Department of the Interior www.doi.org, September 11, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Aleutian Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Japan Invades the Aleutian Islands American Experience", www.pbs.org; "War in the Pacific: The First Year", nps.gov; "Japan Invades the Aleutian Islands", PBS; "Battle of the Aleutian Islands", history.com, November 17, 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Aleutian Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Klemperer, "Crustal structure of the Bering and Chukchi shelves: Deep seismic reflection profiles across the North American continent between Alaska and Russia", Special Papers, Geological Society of America, 2002, p. 1– (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Aleutian Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holbrook, "Structure and composition of the Aleutian island arc and implications for continental crustal growth", Geology, 1999, p. 31–34 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. "When the president came to dinner: FDR in Alaska", Anchorage Daily News, September 12, 2014. facts only, no text reused. adn.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Aleutian Islands (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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