Géologie Archipelago

The French expedition under Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville landed on Débarquement Rock in the Dumoulin Islands on 22 January 1840.

Following surveys by French Antarctic Expedition parties during the 1950–52 period, the French gave the name "Archipel de Pointe Géologie" to the entire archipelago, as d'Urville's coastal feature is believed to correlate with portions of the cluster of islands close to the north of Astrolabe Glacier Tongue.

[1] In 1952, a small base was built on Île des Pétrels (Petrel Island) to study a nearby colony of emperor penguins.

The new main base, Dumont d'Urville Station, was built on the same island, located 62 km (39 mi) west of Port Martin, and opened on 12 January 1956, to serve as a centre for French scientific research during the Antarctic International Geophysical Year 1957–58.

A site cluster in the heart of the Géologie Archipelago, south and east, and in the immediate vicinity, of Petrel Island, comprises Jean Rostand, Le Mauguen, Claude Bernard and Lamarck Islands, Bon Docteur Nunatak, and a breeding site of emperor penguins on the intervening sea ice.