Where on Earth? - December 2009

Enter this month's Where on Earth? contest! | Where on Earth? Archive

Danny Sullivan

Clues for December 2009:

1. Don’t let first impressions fool you: This sea stack is more than 500 meters high, among the tallest in the world.

2. The sea stack, named after a British officer who was allegedly the first to spot it in 1788, is the remnant of a shield volcano that formed about 7 million years ago. It is situated about 16 kilometers from a larger island named after a lord.

3. Scientists were thrilled in 2001 when they announced that the sea stack hosted Dryococelus australis, a large, flightless stick insect thought to be extinct on the larger island for more than 70 years.

Name this sea stack and its location.

Scroll down for the answer

Answer: Named after a British officer who allegedly spotted it in 1788, Ball’s Pyramid is located about 600 kilometers east of Australia. It is among the tallest sea stacks in the world, measuring more than 500 meters high. It is the remnant of a shield volcano that formed about 7 million years ago. Photo by Danny Sullivan.

December winners
Roslyn Bonnar (Burlington, Mass.)
William DeNioon (Olathe, Kan.)
Dean Dunn (Washington, D.C.)
Howard Feldman (Scarsdale, N.Y.)
Katie Johnson (Charleston, Ill.)
Anne Lutz (Harrisburg, Pa.)
Derrick Placek (Bismarck, N.D.)
Jane Ritz (Saskatoon, Canada)
Colleen Smith (Onalaska, Wis.)
Cathy Webster (Pryor, Okla.)

To submit your photographs to our Where on Earth? contest, send them via e-mail to
earth@earthmagazine.org.