Islands. What are they? When I say island, most people think Hawaii or beautiful paradise. Quite honestly, so did I. That was until I was called upon to research them. A dictionary website clearly states that an island is “A land mass, especially one smaller than a continent, entirely surrounded by water. ” http://dictionary. reference. com/search? q=Island [Online] Available. Islands are sometimes smaller than a foot to three feet long, and these are called Islets. Some are even hundreds of miles long, mostly ones that have broken off of continents and countries.
A good example of this is Japan, which broke of the coast of Russia, and drifted down to the coast of China. This is known as a “continental” island. Another type of island is the “volcanic” type of island, which is formed from a volcano. An example of this geologically quick forming island is Hawaii, which only took a small amount of time in geographic terms. However, when sediment and sand have built up along a volcanic island, they form a ring, therefore causing what is known as a “coral” island or islet. http://www. dictionary. reference. om. [Online]
Available. Lexico. Island can occur in almost any type of water, mostly in oceans or large lakes. An example of a lake with an island is crater lake, which has a good size island created from a volcano many years ago. They can occur from tectonic plates, mineral deposits, or even be man made, like an airport on water. There are five different types of islands. One is continental, which once used to be attached to a continent. Another type is tectonically formed island, which can be created when two faults slam into each other.
They can also be created when one plate slides under another one. Yet another type of island is the volcanic island, which comes to be when lava OR a volcano comes to the surface. A “lava” island is forming off the coast of Hawaii, and is creating the seventh island in its chain. When a volcano rises to the top over thousands of years, it creates an island, even if it is unstable and may sink if a heavy enough eruption takes place.
Speaking of sinking, another island is the barrier kind, which, after sediment and sand have built up along a shoreline of a olcanic island, which occurs after a volcanic island has sunk due to an eruption. The last island is the coral island, which is formed when tiny bits of coral make tiny islets. This island takes the quickest to form, unlike others, which can take many years to form. Many bigger islands are usually continental islands because it would take a long time to form an island that big. Islands can either be beautiful paradises, or they can be an island of living madness. An example of this, is the even “theoretical” existence of Atlantis, which may have been destroyed by a volcanic eruption.
Some islands make the world a bit prettier, like the Caribbean islands, or even the U. S. Virgin Islands that are sprinkled with palm trees and blessed with sandy beaches. Japan Japan is a big island off the coast of China. It is said to be the land of the “Rising Sun” because it was once believed Japan was at the end of the world. Japan broke off the coast of Siberia and drifted down to the Chinese coast. Japan is actually made up of 4 big islands, and hundreds of smaller islands.
Japan has a rich history that dates back 30,000 years ago, when the most primitive of modern man walked its beautiful landscape. Now there are millions upon millions of people who reside on Japan. It is said to be “one of the world’s most populous nations. ” Allison, 2001, 35. Since Japan is so populous, it creates a lot of pollution. This can really affect the environment in a bad way. Islands. They a beautiful masterpiece and are they spots of violent destruction. There are even myths and legends about them. Are they a good thing or a bad thing? That’s for you to decide.