Scoglio d'Africa

Scoglio d'Africa
Nickname: Formica di Montecristo
Scoglio d'Africa
Geography
Location Tyrrhenian Sea
Coordinates 42°18′06.46″N 10°04′0.0″E / 42.3017944°N 10.066667°E / 42.3017944; 10.066667Coordinates: 42°18′06.46″N 10°04′0.0″E / 42.3017944°N 10.066667°E / 42.3017944; 10.066667[1]
Archipelago Tuscan Archipelago
Highest elevation 3 m (10 ft)
Administration
Italy
Region Tuscany
Province Livorno
Comune Campo nell'Elba
Demographics
Population uninhabited
Map of the Tuscan Archipelago

The Scoglio d'Africa [2] (or Scoglio d'Affrica) also named Formica di Monte Cristo ("Monte Cristo's Ant"), is a solitary small skerry belonging to the Tuscan Archipelago located in open sea between Tyrrhenian Sea and Corsica Channel. It is located 18.5 km west of the Island of Montecristo, 23.5 km south of Pianosa Island and 43.1 km east of Corsica. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Campo nell'Elba. It is also part of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park.

Description

Regarding its size and its shape, it can be considered to all effects an emergent rock in a stretch of shallow sea. It has a rounded contour with the diameter of 70 metres, an area of 3,000 square metres and an altitude of only 3 metres above sea level depending from the tides and the waves. Geologically the skerry belongs to a submarine ridge starting few miles east of Capraia and it extends toward south up to reach Pianosa.[3] The ridge is lying at an average depth of 80 metres but it decreases in proximity of the island to arrive at 8 metres. The depths in the region among the skerry and Montecristo reach 200 metres.

Fauna

The seabed around the rock is composed by two types of biocoenosis; the first is formed by algae, bryozoa and polychaetes that form a structure rich in cavities; the second is formed by prairies of Posidonia.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Scoglio d'Africa Islands base online. Retrieved 29 May 2017
  2. ↑ Scoglio d'Africa Marina Militare
  3. ↑ "Lineamenti geologici e geomorfologici" (in Italian). Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  4. ↑ Società Toscana di Scienze Naturali
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