Island Formation

Abstract

To understand how islands form, continental islands must be distinguished from oceanic islands, the former being pieces of continents with the connection submerged, the latter being younger islands that originated exclusively within the ocean basins. However they appear today - low or high, limestone or volcanic - all oceanic islands began life as ocean-floor volcanoes. Those that have not yet reached the ocean surface (and many never do so) are referred to as seamounts, whereas those that were once emergent but have since been submerged are often distinctively flat-topped and are called guyots.