A short chain of atolls with a land area of only 10 km2 (4 sq mi), these islands became officially the Tokelau Islands in 1944, being earlier referred to as the “Union Islands.” They are administered by New Zealand. A British protectorate from 1877, they were grouped in with the Gilbert and Ellice islands (q.v.) in 1916, but taken over by New Zealand in 1926. They are situated at 8–10°S, 171–173°S. (The nearby atoll of Swains Island is administered with American Samoa, q.v.)
Lying in the South Pacific Ocean, some 485 km N of Western Samoa, 3380 km NE of New Zealand, the Tokelau Islands consist of three atolls: Atafu, Fakaofo, and Nukunonu. They extend over a distance of 160 km in a NW-SE trend. Each atoll contains a central lagoon, surrounded by a ring reef on which are situated a large number of islets, the maximum elevation not exceeding 4 to 5 m.
Most of the year the islands lie in the belt of the SE trade winds, but in the southern summer (December–March) they come within the...
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References
Anon., 1968. Reports on Niue and the Tokelau Islands. Wellington, N.Z.: Dept. Maori and Islands Affairs.
Brigham, W. T., 1900. “An index to the islands of the Pacific,” Mem. Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1.
Davis, W. M., 1928. “The coral reef problem,” Am. Geog. Soc. Spec. Publ. 9.
Marshall, P., 1912. “Oceania,” Handbuch Reg. Geol., 7(2), 1.
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© 1975 Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc.
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Fairbridge, R.W. (1975). Tokelau islands (union islands). In: World Regional Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31081-1_107
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31081-1_107
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