Geography
Henderson Island is a raised coral atoll that, with Pitcairn, Ducie and Oeno Islands, forms the Pitcairn Island Group. The nearest major landmass is more than 5,000 kilometres away. This coral limestone island sits atop a conical extinct volcano, rising from the ocean floor 3500 metres below. Its surface is mostly reef-rubble and dissected limestone; an extremely rugged mixture of steep, jagged pinnacles and shallow sink holes, and the island is encircled by steep, undercut limestone cliffs on all sides but the north end. There are three main beaches, on the north-west, north, and north-east sides, and the north and north-west sides are fringed by reefs. The depression at the island's centre comprised a lagoon before the upheaval of the entire volcanic base of the island. There is only one known potable (drinkable) water source, a brackish spring, exposed briefly at neap tide. The surrounding ocean rises about one metre at spring tide.
Read more about this topic: Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands)
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