In one frame International Space Station astronauts were able to capture the evolution of fringing reefs to atolls. As with the Hawaiian Islands, these volcanic hot spot islands become progressively older to the northwest. As these islands move away from their magma sources they erode and subside.
Published Feb 16, 2003
The Aeolian Islands formed from a chain of volcanoes in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of the island of Sicily. Geologists and volcanologists have studied the islands since the eighteenth century, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared them a World Heritage Site in 2000 because of their value to the study of volcanic processes.
Published Sep 1, 2008
The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of some 74 islands sandwiched between the Australian mainland and the outer atolls of the Great Barrier Reef.
Published Jan 2, 2010
Volcanic activity may soon fuse a newly formed island to its neighbor Nishino-shima.
Published Dec 24, 2013
Acquired May 19, 2010, this natural-color image shows the northwestern portion of French Polynesia’s Tuamotu Archipelago.
Published Jul 13, 2010
Lakshadweep’s coral atolls glow iridescent blue-green in this natural-color scene from February 2012.
Published Apr 15, 2012
This astronaut photograph depicts Apataki Atoll, an atoll in the Tuamotu Islands in the south Pacific. Atolls are ring-like coral islands that nearly or entirely enclose a lagoon. The atoll traces the perimeter of what was once the coastline of a volcanic island. In 1722, Dutch navigator Jakob Roggeveen became the first European to see the Apataki Atoll. It was later visited by Captain Cook in 1774.
Published Mar 6, 2006
A 35-square-kilometer island rises from the Pacific Ocean about 1,400 kilometers from the Australian mainland.
Published May 23, 2015
Lighthouses and sandstone formations draw visitors to the shores of Lake Superior.
Published Aug 28, 2016
Scattered like turquoise and emeralds across the dark blue waters of the Coral and Solomon Seas, the coral reefs and forested islands of the Louisiade Archipelago stretch southeastward from the tip of Papua New Guinea for over 350 kilometers.
Published Jan 2, 2009
