Flinders Island, South Australia
Encyclopedia
Flinders Island is an island in the Investigator Group
off the coast of South Australia
. It was named by Matthew Flinders
after his younger brother Samuel Flinders, a midshipman on HMS Investigator in 1801. It is part of the Investigator Group Important Bird Area
.
The island has been subject to diamond
exploration following the discovery of a wide range of kimberlite
indicator minerals there. These minerals include chromite, pyrope, diopside, picroilmenite, forsterite, orthopyroxene, as well as small diamonds.
Investigator Group
The Investigator Group is an archipelago comprising three scattered island groups off the western coast of the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. It is named after HMS Investigator, which was captained by Matthew Flinders when he explored the area in 1802. It lies at the eastern end of the Great...
off the coast of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. It was named by Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
after his younger brother Samuel Flinders, a midshipman on HMS Investigator in 1801. It is part of the Investigator Group Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
.
The island has been subject to diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
exploration following the discovery of a wide range of kimberlite
Kimberlite
Kimberlite is a type of potassic volcanic rock best known for sometimes containing diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an diamond in 1871 spawned a diamond rush, eventually creating the Big Hole....
indicator minerals there. These minerals include chromite, pyrope, diopside, picroilmenite, forsterite, orthopyroxene, as well as small diamonds.