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Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago

Islands information
NameSaint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago
Native nameArquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo
LocationAtlantic Ocean
ArchipelagoArquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo
Total islands15
Major islandsBelmonte, Challenger, Nordeste, Cabral, South
Geography information
Elevation55.8 ft (17 m)
Administration information
Brazil
RegionNortheast
StatePernambuco
Administration information
Population4
Additional infoWebsite

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The Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago ( ) is a group of 15 small islets and rocks in the Atlantic Ocean. It lies in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a region of severe storms. It is approximately 510 nmi (944520 m) from the northeastern coastal town of Touros, 625 km (625000 m) northeast of the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, and 990 km (990000 m) from the city of Natal. The islets expose serpentinized mantle peridotite and kaersutite-bearing mylonite on the top of the second-largest megamullion in the world (after the Parece Vela megamullion under Okinotorishima in the Pacific), and they are the only location on Earth where the abyssal mantle is exposed above sea level.

In 1986, the archipelago was designated as an environmentally protected area. Since 1998, the Brazilian Navy has maintained a permanently manned research facility on the islands. The main economic activity around the islets is tuna fishing.


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