Yesterday I came across this image, taken from the @Space_Station—of Kerguelen, an island in the south Indian Ocean that's the topmost part of a *huge* igneous province, the Kerguelen Plateau.

It's also somewhere I was lucky enough to visit in 2006.

(1/n)

The only way to get there is by ship—there are no airstrips there.

It took our team 12 days to get there onboard the Marion Dufresne II, a research and supply vessel operated on behalf of the French government.

(2/n)

On the way down, we passed by some outlying island down there, some of which had a real Lord of the Rings vibe going on. These islands are all uninhabited, with the exception of some scientists, rabbits, and lots of seabirds.

(3/n)

We spent a total of three months getting to and from the island. Kerguelen itself is beautiful; I'm reminded of @TheRealBuzz's words of the Moon: "magnificent desolation". In fact, Kergeulen Island is also known as Desolation Island.

(4/n)

We hiked tens of km across the island; I was working with a group of geochemists who were taking samples for laboratory analysis. I was carrying out tectonic mapping of the island.

(5/n)

It's a *striking* landscape.

The entire island is built of stacked lava flows, now eroded by wind, water, and ice. Perched lakes, waterfalls, snow-capped peaks—and just so much rock. Like I said: striking.

(6/n)

It was tough going at times! Virtually no part of the island is flat, so any travel deep in the island is by foot and takes ages. Plus, the weather was like Ireland in July, which is to say, mainly shit.

(7/n)

But, when it was nice out, it was amazing. And it was a privilege to visit a place as remote as Kerguelen, where few people had ever set foot, and to be able to explore its geology.

(8/n)

Plus, we got to go in helicopters once in a while, so that was cool.

(They didn't appreciate the loud "Ride of the Valkyries" rendition I would do every time, though.)

(9/n)