The Pacific Realm:
Physical Geography
Size
The Pacific
Ocean comprises one third of the earth's surface and is larger
than all the continents combined! It's land area though is only
192,200 square miles, or less than one half of one percent of the
earth's land area. Well over ninety- percent of this land area is the
one island of New
Guinea. With a population of 4.5 million the country of Papua
New Guinea, which occupies the eastern half of the island of New
Guinea, contains 70% of the realm's population of 7 million .
Hot Spots
Many of the islands in this realm are volcanic island chains formed
above "hot spots" in the ocean crust. Read this USGS site on hotspots
and island chain formation: http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/hotspots.html
Atolls
Atolls are low islands made of coral that usually have an
irregular ring shape around a central lagoon. See the map of the
Palmyra
Atoll. The formation of atolls was hypothesized by Charles Darwin
( yes, the evolution guy) to be caused by a coral reef forming around
a volcanic
island. Later the volcanic island begins to sink as the coral
ring continues to grow. Eventually the volcanic island submerges and
all that is left is the coral
ring.
OPTIONAL:
For more information on Darwin and atolls see: http://pauillac.inria.fr/~clerger/Darwin.html