Baliscan archipelago
| File:Satellite View of Balisca 2009.png A satellite image of the main archipelago | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Adjacent to | South Atlantic Ocean and Argentine (Baliscan) Sea |
| Area | 1,526,052 km2 (589,212 sq mi) |
| Administration | |
Balisca | |
Balisca is a continental fragment east of South America in the South Atlantic Ocean (which it is completely surrounded by) and the Mar de Hoces to the south. Balisca is long and narrow—over 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) along its north-north-east axis with a maximum width of 700 kilometres (430 mi)—with about 15,000 km (9,300 mi) of coastline and a total land area of 1,526,052 square kilometres (589,212 sq mi), making it the world’s 28th-largest country. Because of its far-flung outlying islands and long coastline, the country has extensive marine resources. Its exclusive economic zone is one of the largest in the world, covering more than 3 times its land area. The country, including all of the islands it controls, lies between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle. The main islands, from north to south, are Pindorama, Cirenaica, Atlántida and Tinguiririca. Together they are often known as the Baliscan archipelago. It is the largest island country in the Americas, and the second largest in the world, after Indonesia.
The country owes its varied topography, and perhaps even its emergence above the waves, to the dynamic boundary it straddles between the South American, Hesperian, Scotia, and the Sandwich and Siculian plates. Balisca is part of the Hesperian Microcontinent, a microcontinent nearly half the size of Brazil that gradually submerged after breaking away from the Gondwanan supercontinent. About 25 million years ago, a shift in plate tectonic movements began to contort and crumple the region. This is now most evident in the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén, formed by compression of the crust beside the ? Fault. Elsewhere, the plate boundary involves the subduction of one plate under the other, producing the Augusta Trench to the north, the Concordian Trench east of the Araucaria, and the Arcadian and Lucanian Trenches further north.
Atlántida is the largest landmass of Balisca. It is divided along its length by the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén. There are 18 peaks over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), the highest of which is is Tanimbuka (‘ash mountain’) in the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén 4,822.6 metres (15,822 ft) above sea level). The Strait of Ivorra's steep mountains and deep fiords record the extensive ice age glaciation of this southwestern corner of the Cerdanya's Tinguiririca. The island of Pindorama is less mountainous but is marked by volcanism. The highly active Peke'i Volcanic Zone has formed a large volcanic plateau, punctuated by the island's highest mountain, Ybyrá (3,621 metres (11,880 ft)). The plateau also hosts the Pindorama's largest lake, Lac del Cràter, nestled in the caldera of one of the world's most active supervolcanoes. Balisca is prone to earthquakes and to a lesser extent, volcanic eruptions.
