Annenkov Island

Annenkov Island is to the west of the main island of South Georgia. The Pickersgill Islands are its south west. It is irregularly-shaped and 4 miles (6 km) long and 650 m high, lying 8 miles (13 km) off the south-central coast of South Georgia.

History

It was discovered in January 1775 by a British expedition under Cook, who named it "Pickersgills Island" for Lieutenant Richard Pickersgill of the expedition ship Resolution. Resighted in 1819 by a Russian expedition under Bellingshausen on the Vostok, who, thinking he was the discoverer of the island, named it Annenkov Island for Lieutenant Mikhail Annenkov, officer on the expedition ship. Pickersgill has become established for a group of islands 15 miles (24 km) to the southeast - see Pickersgill Islands.

Wildlife

A Site of Special Scientific Interest, Annenkov, is one of the few rat-free islands of the South Georgia archipelago. And as Bellinghausen lamented there is "not a single shrub nor any vegetation" on the island.

500 wandering albatross pairs breed here.

Landings are only allowed here with permission.

Geology

Annenkov's highest point is Olstad Peak which rises to 650m. Olstad Peak was surveyed by the South Georgia Survey in the period 1951-57, and named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) for Ola Olstad, Norwegian zoologist, member of the Norwegian expedition under Horntvedt, 1927-28, and chief scientist of the Norwegian expedition under Nils Larsen, 1928-29.

It is one of the few places in South Georgia where fossils may be found.

Intrusion Lake

Intrusion Lake is a lake, 0.2 miles (0.3 km) long, located north-northeast of Olstad Peak in central Annenkov Island. Mapped by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in 1972-73 and so named because its irregular shape is controlled by several intrusions of andesite along its north shore.