How was the pacific islands formed?

Question

How was the pacific islands formed?

Answer 1

Pacific Ocean - Continental Islands

The islands of the broad western Pacific margin, formed mainly of metamorphosed rocks, sediments, and andesitic volcanic material, are separated from the basaltic volcanic islands of the central and eastern Pacific by deep ocean trenches along the eastern borders of Japan, the Marianas, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, and New Zealand.

Hawaiian Ridge



The Hawaiian Islands have a different (non-plate-tectonic) origin, formed over hot spots in the earth's surface far from plate boundaries. The Hawaiian Islands are located atop a submarine feature called the Hawaiian Ridge. The volcanic ridge extends in a southeast-northwest direction for more than 3,000 kilometres (1,865 miles). The ridge is youngest in the southeast at the site of the large island of Hawaii, which sits above an active hot spot on the ocean floor. As the Pacific Plate moves northwest, it carries the Hawaiian chain with it. When the large island of Hawaii moves away from the hot spot it will be replaced with another island, Loihi, an active seamount about 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) below sea level to the southeast.

As the islands move northwest and age, they erode and subside. Midway Islands, more than 2,600 kilometres (1,616 miles) to the northwest, are the furthest and oldest on the Hawaiian Ridge. They are about 20 million years old and barely above sea level.

Pacific Ocean - Coral Islands

Many islands in the Pacific Ocean were formed from the stony skeletons of countless coral animals.

Answer 2

Be Specific which ones there are many Islands in the Pacific some are volcanic others coral reef