Lansdowne Bank

Lansdowne Bank, centre of map

Lansdowne Bank, sometimes called Landsdowne Bank, is an extensive submerged bank located between the main island of New Caledonia and the Chesterfield Islands, in the easternmost part of the Coral Sea. It covers an area of 21,000 km², making it one of the largest banks of the world (after Saya de Malha), has general depths of 60 to 80 metres, and a largely sandy bottom. Two reefs mark the shallowest spots of the bank, but they are still submerged at low tide.

Fairway Ridge, aka Fairway Plateau is a submarine feature shown on some maps in that area. The Lansdowne Bank area marked is far larger than Fairway Plateau, but there are smaller, unnamed plateaus nearby. The Lansdowne Bank area, shown at the northeastern end of Lord Howe Rise, is separated from New Caledonia by New Caledonia Basin and Fairway Basin.

Nereus Reef

Nereus Reef is located at the northern end of Lansdowne Bank. Its given position of 20°07′S 160°28′E / 20.117°S 160.467°E is doubtful.[1] Nereus Reef has the least depth of the bank, with 3.7 metres. A shoal with a depth of 16 metres is located 14 miles (23 km) km WNW of Nereus Reef.

Fairway Reef

The southeastern end of Lansdowne Bank is marked by Fairway Reef, thus named from its lying in the fairway between Australia and New Caledonia, midway between the Bellona Reefs (south of the Chesterfield Islands) and New Caledonia. Fairway Reef is 3.2 km long, about 4 to 5 fathoms (7.3 to 9.1 metres) deep, of coral bottom, and located at 21°00′15″S 161°45′09″E / 21.00417°S 161.75250°E. According to some sources, Fairway Reef dries at low tide.[2]

Sandy Island Mystery

Google Maps and other internet maps showed a large island defined and marked in the area of the north of Lansdowne Bank, but do not show an image for it. This island was marked as Sandy Island. The area marked may be the same area as that in which Nereus Reef is meant to exist. In 2012 Australian scientists definitively proved the island does not exist.[3][4]

Coordinates: 20°35′S 160°30′E / 20.583°S 160.500°E

References

  1. ↑ Publication 127: Sailing Directions (Enroute): East Coast of Australia and New Zealand (8 ed.). Bethesda, Maryland: National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA). 2004. p. 135.
  2. ↑ "Reefbase: A Global Information System for Coral Reefs". WorldFish. April 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
  3. ↑ "South Pacific Sandy Island 'proven not to exist'". BBC News. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  4. ↑ "The Pacific island that never was". The Guardian. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.

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