Extreme points of Earth

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Further information: World record, List of extreme points lists, and Extremes on Earth

This is a list of extreme points of Earth, the points that are farther north or south than, higher or lower in elevation than, or farthest inland or out to sea from, any other locations on the landmasses, continents or countries.

The world

Latitude and longitude

The southernmost open sea is also part of Ross Sea, namely Bay of Whales at 78°30'S, at the edge of Ross Ice Shelf.[2][note 1]

Elevation

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See also: List of elevation extremes by region and List of elevation extremes by country

Highest point

  • The highest point measured from sea level is the summit of Mount Everest that borders Nepal and China, and was first reached by Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa of Nepal Tenzing Norgay in 1953 (with speculation that it may have been reached in 1924). While measurements of its height vary slightly, the elevation of its peak is usually given as 8,848 m (29,029 feet) above sea level.
  • The point farthest from the Earth's center is the summit of Chimborazo,[3] in Ecuador, at 6,384.4 km (3,967 miles) (the peak's elevation in relation to the sea level is 6,268 m (20,564 feet)). This is due to the Earth being an oblate spheroid rather than a perfect sphere. An oblate spheroid is very much like a sphere except it is wider at the equator and narrower between the poles. This means that Chimborazo, which is near the equator, is farther away from the center of the Earth than the peak of Mount Everest. The summit of Mount Everest is 2.168 km (1.347 miles) closer at 6,382.3 km (3,965.8 miles) to the Earth's center. Peru's Huascarán contends closely with Chimborazo, the difference in the mountains' heights being 23 m (75 feet)[citation needed]

Lowest point (artificial)

  • The lowest point underground ever reached was 12,262 m (40,230 feet) deep (SG-3 at Kola superdeep borehole).
  • The lowest human-sized point underground is 3,900 m (12,800 feet)[4] below ground at the TauTona Mine, Carletonville, South Africa.
  • The lowest (from sea level) artificially made point with open sky might be the Hambach surface mine, Germany, 293 m (961 feet) below sea level.
  • The lowest (from surface) artificially made point with open sky might be the Bingham Canyon open-pit mine, Salt Lake City, United States, 1,200 m (3,900 feet) below surface level.
  • The lowest point underwater was the 10,680 m (35,040 feet)-deep (as measured from the subsea wellhead) oil and gas well drilled on the Tiber Oil Field located in the Gulf of Mexico. The wellhead of this well was an additional 1,259 m (4,131 feet) underwater for a total distance of 11,939 m (39,170 feet) as measured from sea level.[5]Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Lowest point (natural)

Highest attainable by transportation

File:La Rinconada Peru.jpg
La Rinconada, Peru
  • Highest altitude aboard a land vehicle: Ojos del Salado 6,688 meters (21,942 ft.), on 21 April, 2007, the Chilean duo of Gonzalo Bravo G. and Eduardo Canales Moya reached 6,688 meters with a modified Suzuki Samurai, setting the latest record for the highest altitude attained by a four-wheeled vehicle.
  • Road (dead end): Aucanquilcha, Chile, 6,176 m (20,262 feet), mining road to summit of volcano, once usable by 20-tonne mining trucks.[9] The road is no longer usable. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Road (mountain pass): Mana Pass, India contains a well-graded military road built in the 2005-2010 period that reaches 5,610 m (18,406 feet) 250 m west of the low point of the pass at 5,545 m (18,192 feet). Marsimik La in India, 5,582 m (18,314 feet), Semo La in Tibet is another contender depending on the definition of "attainable by transportation".
  • Road (asphalted): The Ticlio pass, on the Central Road of Peru, at an elevation of 4,818 m (15,807 feet).
  • Train: Tanggula Pass, in the Tanggula Mountains, Qinghai/Tibet, China, 5,072 m (16,640 feet), located on the Qinghai–Tibet (Qingzang) Railway. Tanggula also has the world's highest railway station at 5,068 m (16,627 feet). Before the Qingzang Railway was built, the highest railway ran between Lima and Huancayo in Peru, reaching 4,829 m (15,843 feet) at Ticlio.[10]
  • Oceangoing vessel: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory is the highest point that can be reached by watercraft from the sea at 640 m (2,100 feet).[11] The Rhine–Main–Danube Canal between the Hilpoltstein and Bachhausen locks in Bavaria, Germany is the highest point currently reached by watercraft from the sea at 406 m (1,332 feet).
  • Commercial airport: Daocheng Yading Airport, Sichuan, China, 4,411 m (14,472 feet).[12] The proposed Nagqu Dagring Airport in Tibet, 4,436 m (14,554 feet), if built, will be higher.
  • Helipad: Sonam, Siachen Glacier, Indian Administered Kashmir (Pakistan's full claim) at a height of 6,400 m (20,997 feet) above sea level.[13]
  • Permanent settlement: La Rinconada, Peru, 5,100 m (16,732 feet), in the Peruvian Andes. It is located near a gold mine.
  • Farthest road from the centre of Earth Road to Carrel Hut, Ecuador, 4,850 m (15,912 feet), in the Ecuadorian Andes. 6,382.9 km (3,966 miles) from the centre of Earth.[14]

Lowest attainable by transportation

File:Dead Sea-14.jpg
Dead Sea
  • Road: Excluding roads in mines, the roads beside the Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan are, at 418 m (1,371 feet) below sea level, the deepest. The deepest undersea road tunnel is the Eiksund Tunnel, Norway, 287 m (942 feet) below sea level.
  • Airfield: Bar Yehuda Airfield (MTZ), near Masada, Israel, 378 m (1,240 feet) below sea level.
  • Commercial airport: Atyrau Airport (GUW), near Atyrau, Kazakhstan, 22 m (72 feet) below sea level.
  • Train: Excluding tracks inside South African gold mines, which can be several thousand metres below sea level, the world's lowest railway is located in Japan's Seikan Tunnel, at 240 m (787 feet) below sea level. By comparison, the Channel Tunnel between Folkestone, England, and Coquelles, France, reaches a depth of 75 m (246 feet). The lowest station is Yoshioka-kaitei, 150 m (492 feet) below sea level. Outside tunnels, the lowest railway is 71 m (233 feet) below sea level, on the line connecting Yuma, Arizona, and Palm Springs, California, in the United States.[10]

Highest geographical features

  • Lake: There is an unnamed crater lake on Ojos del Salado (which itself is the world's highest volcano) at 6,390 m (20,965 feet),[15] on the Argentina–Chile border (the lake is in Argentina). Another candidate is Lhagba Pool on the northeast slopes of Mount Everest, Tibet, China at an elevation of 6,368 m (20,892 feet).[16]
  • Navigable Lake: Lake Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia in the Andes, 3,812 m (12,507 feet)
  • Glacier: The Khumbu Glacier on the southwest slopes of Mount Everest in Nepal is the world's highest glacier, beginning on the west side of Lhotse at an elevation of 7,600 to 8,000 m (24,900 to 26,200 feet).[17]
  • River: One candidate from among many possibilities is the Ating Ho (Ho meaning river), which flows into the Aong Tso (Hagung Tso), a large lake in Tibet, China, and is about 6,100 m (20,013 feet) at its source at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. A very large high river is the Yarlung Tsangpo or upper Brahmaputra River in Tibet, China, whose main stem, the Maquan River has its source at about 6,020 m (19,751 feet) above sea level at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found..[18] Above these elevations there are no rivers since the temperature is almost always below freezing.
  • Island: There are a number of islands in the Orba Co lake, which is located at an elevation of 5,209 m (17,090 feet) in Tibet, China.[19]

Remoteness

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Main article: Pole of inaccessibility

Each continent has its own Continental Pole of Inaccessibility, defined as the place on the continent that is farthest from any ocean. Of these continental points, the most distant from an ocean is the Eurasian Pole of Inaccessibility (or "EPIA") Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found., in China's Xinjiang region near the Kazakhstan border. Calculations have commonly suggested that this point, located in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert, is 2,645 km (1,644 miles) from the nearest coastline. The nearest settlement to the EPIA is Suluk at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. about 11 km (6.8 miles) to the east.[citation needed]

A recent study suggests that the historical calculation of the EPIA has failed to recognize the point where the Gulf of Ob joins the Arctic Ocean, and proposes instead that varying definitions of coastline could result in other Eurasian Pole of Inaccessibility results: EPIA1 somewhere between Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. and Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found., about 2,510 ± 10 kilometres (1,559.6 ± 6.2 mi) from the nearest ocean, or EPIA2 somewhere between Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. and Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found., about 2,514 ± 7 kilometres (1,562.1 ± 4.3 mi) from the nearest ocean.[20] If adopted, this would place the final EPIA roughly 130 km (81 miles) closer to ocean than currently agreed upon.[20]

Coincidentally, EPIA1 (or EPIA2) and the most remote of the Oceanic Poles of Inaccessibility (specifically, the point in the South Pacific Ocean that is farthest from land) are similarly remote; EPIA1 is less than 200 km (120 miles) closer to the ocean than the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility is to land.

  • The most remote island is Bouvet Island, an uninhabited and small Norwegian island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies at coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. The nearest land is the uninhabited Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, over 1,600 km (994 mi) away to the south. The nearest inhabited lands are Tristan da Cunha, 2,260 km (1,404 mi) away and South Africa, 2,580 km (1,603 mi) away.
  • The most remote archipelago and the most remote inhabited island is Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2,434 km (1,512 mi) from Saint Helena, 2,816 km (1,750 mi) from South Africa, and 3,360 km (2,090 miles) from South America. If Gough Island, which is 399 km (248 mi) away from the main island, is considered part of this archipelago, the nearest land from it should be Bouvet Island, 1,845 km (1,146 mi) away. The islands are part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. With a population of approximately 270, the main island of Tristan da Cunha is also the remotest inhabited island in the world. Tristan da Cunha has no airport, so all travel must be by boat, making it the most remote inhabited place by transport time. Boat travel to the nearest scheduled airport in South Africa takes around five days.
  • The most remote city
    • The most remote city with a population in excess of one million, from another city of at least that population: Auckland, New Zealand. The nearest city of comparable size or greater is Sydney, Australia, 2,168.9 kilometres (1,347.7 mi) away.[23] Coming in a close second at 2,139 kilometres (air travel distance) is Perth, Australia. Its nearest city of at least one million population is Adelaide, Australia.
    • The most remote city with a population in excess of one million, from another city with population above 100,000 is Perth, Australia, located 2,138 kilometres (1,328 mi)[24] away from Adelaide, Australia. Auckland, New Zealand is a notable contender for this title with a distance of 2,155 kilometres (1,339 mi) to Sydney – however, it is 114 km (71 miles) away from Hamilton, population 153,000.[25]
    • The most remote city with a population in excess of 500,000, from another city of at least that population is Honolulu, United States. The nearest city of comparable size or greater is San Francisco, 3,841 km (2,387 miles) away.
  • The most remote capital city in the world (longest distance from one capital of a sovereign country to the one closest to it) is a tie between Wellington, New Zealand, and Canberra, Australia, which are 2,326 km (1,445 mi) apart from each other. Canberra could drop from this tie in the future as it is only 2,217 km (1,378 mi) from Noumea,[26] the capital of New Caledonia, a special territory of France which is scheduled to vote on independence between 2014 and 2018.[27]

Farthest apart

The world's farthest-apart city pairs (with a population of over 100,000) are:[29]

  1. 19,996 km (12,425 mi) Rosario, Argentina to Xinghua, China[30]
  2. 19,994 km (12,424 mi) Liu'an, China to Río Cuarto, Argentina[31]
  3. 19,989 km (12,421 mi) Cuenca, Ecuador to Subang Jaya, Malaysia[32]

Center

Since the Earth is a spheroid, its center (the core) is thousands of kilometres beneath its crust. On the surface, the point 0°, 0°, located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 614 km (382 miles) south of Accra, Ghana, in the Gulf of Guinea, at the intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian, at the coordinates of zero degrees by zero, is the "center" of the standard geographic model, as viewed on a map—but this selection of longitude meridian is culturally and historically dependent. The center of population, the place to which there is the shortest average route for everyone in the world, could be considered a centre of the world, and is located in the north of the Indian subcontinent, although the precise location has never been calculated and is constantly shifting.

Along constant latitude (east-west distances)

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Along constant longitude (north-south distances)

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  • The longest continuous distance on land:
    • 7,590 km (4,720 miles) at 99°1'30E: Russian Federation (76°13'6N), Mongolia, China, Burma, Thailand (7°53'24N).
    • 7,417 km (4,609 miles) at 20°12E: Libya (32°19N), Chad, Central Africa, Congo DR, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa (34°41'30S). (Longest in Africa).
    • 7,098 km (4,410 miles) at 70°2W: Venezuela (11°30'30N), Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina (52°33'30S). (Longest in South America).
    • 5,813 km (3,612 miles) at 97°52'30W: Canada (68°21N), United States, Mexico (16°1N). (Longest in North America).
  • The longest land meridian. Still to be determined. It has to be located in the vicinity of 22°E, which is the longest land integer meridian that crosses 13,035 km (8,100 miles) of land and takes more than 65% of the meridian's length. Note: the meridian that crosses Giza Great Pyramid (31°08'3.69"E) is 855 km (531 miles) shorter.
  • The seven longest land integer meridians, in order:
    1. 13,035 km (8,100 miles) at 22°E: Europe 3,370 km (2,090 miles), Africa 7,458 km (4,634 miles), Antarctica 2,207 km (1,371 miles)
    2. 12,953 km (8,049 miles) at 23°E: Europe 3,325 km (2,066 miles), Africa 7,415 km (4,607 miles), Antarctica 2,214 km (1,376 miles)
    3. 12,943 km (8,042 miles) at 27°E: Europe 3,254 km (2,022 miles), Asia 246 km (153 miles), Africa 7,223 km (4,488 miles), Antarctica 2,221 km (1,380 miles)
    4. 12,875 km (8,000 miles) at 25°E: Europe 3,344 km (2,078 miles), Africa 7,327 km (4,553 miles), Antarctica 2,204 km (1,370 miles)
    5. 12,858 km (7,990 miles) at 26°E: Europe 3,404 km (2,115 miles), Africa 7,258 km (4,510 miles), Antarctica 2,196 km (1,365 miles)
    6. 12,794 km (7,950 miles) at 24°E: Europe 3,263 km (2,028 miles), Africa 7,346 km (4,565 miles), Antarctica 2,185 km (1,358 miles)
    7. 12,778 km (7,940 miles) at 28°E: Europe 3,039 km (1,888 miles), Asia 388 km (241 miles), Africa 7,117 km (4,422 miles)
  • The longest continuous distance at sea:
    • 15,986 km (9,933 miles) at 34°45'45W: Eastern Greenland (66°23'45N), Atlantic Ocean, Antarctica (Filchner Ice Shelf) (77°37S).
    • 15,883 km (9,869 miles) at 172°8'30W: Russian Federation (Siberia) (64°45N), Pacific Ocean, Antarctica (Ross Ice Shelf) (78°20S). (Longest in the Pacific Ocean).

Along any great circle

  • Longest continuous distance on land[clarification needed]: 13,573 km (8,434 miles). It begins on the coastline near Greenville, Liberia (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.), goes across the Suez Canal and ends at the top of a peninsula approximately 100 km (62 miles) northeast of Wenzhou, China Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found..[citation needed] (Map from gcmap)
  • Longest continuous land distance on continental Africa: 8,402 km (5,221 miles) It begins just east of Tangier, Morocco and ends 100 km (62 miles) east of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It passes through the countries of Morocco, Algeria, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
  • Longest continuous land distance on continental Asia: 10,152 km (6,308 miles) It begins on the Indian coastline near Kanyakumari, ending at the Bering Sea coast of the Chukchi Peninsula, Russia. It passes through the countries of India, Nepal, China, Mongolia and Russia.
  • Longest continuous land distance on continental Australia: 4,053 km (2,518 miles) It begins at the southern end of Cape Range National Park, WA and ends at the town of Byron Bay, NSW. Being the sole country on the continent, Australia is all that it passes through.
  • Longest continuous land distance on continental Europe: 5,325 km (3,309 miles) (considering the Urals as the border between Europe and Asia) It begins at Cape St. Vincent, Portugal and ends at the Urals, near the town of Perm, Russia. It passes through Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Russia.
  • Longest continuous distance at sea: There are several possible ways to travel along a great circle for more than the antipodic length of 19,840 km (12,330 miles). Some good examples of such routes would be:
    • From the south coast of Balochistan province somewhere near Port of Karachi, Pakistan (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.) across the Arabian Sea, south-west through Indian Ocean, near Comoros, passing Namaete Canyon, near the South Africa coastline, across the South Atlantic Ocean, then west across Cape Horn, then north-west across the Pacific Ocean, near Easter Island, passing the antipodal point, near Amlia island, through the South Bering Sea and ending somewhere on the east-north coast of Kamchatka, near Ossora (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.). This route is 32,040 km (19,910 miles) long. (Map from gcmap)
    • From the south coast of Hormozgan province, Iran (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.) across the Gulf of Oman, south-east across the Arabian sea, passing south of Australia and New Zealand, near the Antarctic coastline, then north-east across the South Pacific Ocean, passing the antipodal point and ending on the Mexican south-west coast somewhere near Ciudad Lázaro Cárdenas (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.). This route is 25,267 km (15,700 miles) long. (Map from gcmap)
    • From Invercargill (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.), New Zealand, across Cape Horn, then off the coast of Brazil close to Recife, passing north of Cape Verde, passing the antipodal point and ending somewhere on the south-west coast of Ireland (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.). This route is 20,701 km (12,863 miles) long (Map from gcmap)


Afro-Eurasia

The Americas

Antarctica

The Arctic

Oceania

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 A 1995 realignment of the International Date Line ([1]) moved all of Kiribati to the Asian side of the Date Line, causing Caroline Island to be the easternmost. However, if the previous Date Line were followed, the easternmost point would be Tafahi Niuatoputapu, in the Tonga Islands chain.

References

  1. ↑ Gould Coast US Geographic Survey.
  2. ↑ Bay od Whales at britanica.com.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (includes description and photos of Aucanquilcha summit road and mine)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ http://yukondigitallibrary.ca/Publications/AlaskaYT/1916,%20Alaska%20and%20the%20YT.pdf, at p.3
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Centre of Australia, States and Territories, Geoscience Australia
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Draft Logic – Google Maps Distance Calculator, accessed 4 September 2011
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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