Professional Documents
Culture Documents
a1 岛屿
a1 岛屿
Island
Etymology
The word island derives from Middle English iland, from Old English igland (from ig or ieg, similarly
meaning 'island' when used independently, and -land carrying its contemporary meaning; cf. Dutch
eiland ("island"), German Eiland ("small island")). However, the spelling of the word was modified in
the 15th century because of a false etymology caused by an incorrect association with the
etymologically unrelated Old French loanword isle, which itself comes from the Latin word
insula.[3][4] Old English ieg is actually a cognate of Swedish ö and German Aue, and related to Latin
aqua (water).[5]
There is no standard of size that distinguishes islands from continents,[6] or from islets.[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 1/11
5/31/23, 9:05 AM Island - Wikipedia
Continental islands
Continental islands are bodies of land that lie on the continental shelf of a continent.[11] Examples are
Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Sakhalin, Taiwan and Hainan off Asia; New Guinea, Tasmania, and Kangaroo
Island off Australia; Great Britain, Ireland, and Sicily off Europe; Greenland, Newfoundland, Long
Island, and Sable Island off North America; and Barbados, the Falkland Islands, and Trinidad off
South America.
Microcontinental islands
A special type of continental island is the microcontinental island, which is created when a continent
is horizontally displaced or rifted.[12][13] Examples are Madagascar and Socotra off Africa, New
Caledonia, New Zealand, and some of the Seychelles.[13]
Subcontinental islands
A lake such as Wollaston Lake drains in two different directions, thus creating an island. If this island
has a seashore as well as being encircled by two river systems, it becomes what might be called a
subcontinental island. The one formed by Wollaston Lake is very large, about 2,000,000 km2
(770,000 sq mi).[14]
Bars
Another subtype is an island or bar formed by deposition of tiny rocks where water current loses some
of its carrying capacity. This includes:
barrier islands, which are accumulations of sand deposited by sea currents on the continental
shelves[15][16]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 2/11
5/31/23, 9:05 AM Island - Wikipedia
fluvial or alluvial islands formed in river deltas or midstream within large rivers. While some are
transitory and may disappear if the volume or speed of the current changes, others are stable and
long-lived.[17]
Oceanic islands
Oceanic islands are typically considered to be islands that do not sit on continental shelves. Other
definitions limit the term to only refer to islands with no past geological connections to a continental
landmass.[18] The vast majority are volcanic in origin, such as Saint Helena in the South Atlantic
Ocean.[19] The few oceanic islands that are not volcanic are tectonic in origin and arise where plate
movements have lifted up the ocean floor above the surface. Examples are the Saint Peter and Saint
Paul Archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and Macquarie Island in the South Pacific Ocean.
Volcanic islands
Arcs
One type of volcanic oceanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from
volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring. Examples are the Aleutian
Islands, the Mariana Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean.[20][21] The only examples in the
Atlantic Ocean are some of the Lesser Antilles and the South Sandwich Islands.
Oceanic rifts
Another type of volcanic oceanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are
two examples: Iceland, which is the world's second-largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen. Both
islands are in the Atlantic Ocean.
Hotspots
A third type of volcanic oceanic island is formed over volcanic hotspots. A hotspot is more or less
stationary relative to the moving tectonic plate above it, so a chain of islands results as the plate drifts.
Over long periods of time, this type of island is eventually "drowned" by isostatic adjustment and
eroded, becoming a seamount.[22] Plate movement across a hot-spot produces a line of islands
oriented in the direction of the plate movement. An example is the Hawaiian Islands, from Hawaii to
Kure, which continue beneath the sea surface in a more northerly direction as the Emperor
Seamounts. Another chain with similar orientation is the Tuamotu Archipelago; its older, northerly
trend is the Line Islands. The southernmost chain is the Austral Islands, with its northerly trending
part the atolls in the nation of Tuvalu. Tristan da Cunha is an example of a hotspot volcano in the
Atlantic Ocean.[23] Another hotspot in the Atlantic is the island of Surtsey, which was formed in
1963.[24]
Atolls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 3/11
5/31/23, 9:05 AM Island - Wikipedia
An atoll is an island formed from a coral reef that has grown on an eroded and submerged volcanic
island. The reef rises to the surface of the water and forms a new island. Atolls are typically ring-
shaped with a central lagoon. Examples are the Line Islands in the Pacific Ocean and Maldives in the
Indian Ocean.[25]
Map from Charles Darwin’s 1842 The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs showing the world’s major
groups of atolls and coral reefs
Tropical islands
Approximately 45,000 tropical islands with an area of at least 5
hectares (12 acres) exist.[26] Examples formed from coral reefs
include Maldives, Tonga, Samoa, Nauru, and Polynesia.[26]
Granite islands include Seychelles[27] and Tioman.
De-islanding
The process of de-islandisation is often concerning bridging, but there are other forms of linkages
such as causeways: fixed transport links across narrow necks of water, some of which are only
operative at low tides (e.g. that connecting Cornwall's St Michael's Mount to the peninsular
mainland), while others (such as the Canso Causeway connecting Cape Breton to the Nova Scotia
mainland) are usable all year round (aside from interruptions during storm surge periods).[29][30]
Some places may retain "island" in their names for historical reasons after being connected to a larger
landmass by a land bridge or landfill, such as Coney Island and Coronado Island, though these are,
strictly speaking, tied islands.[30] Conversely, when a piece of land is separated from the mainland by
a man-made canal, for example the Peloponnese by the Corinth Canal, more or less the entirety of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 4/11
5/31/23, 9:05 AM Island - Wikipedia
Fennoscandia by the White Sea Canal, or Marble Hill in northern Manhattan during the time between
the building of the United States Ship Canal and the filling in of the Harlem River which surrounded
the area, it is generally not considered an island.
Another type of connection is fostered by harbor walls/breakwaters that incorporate offshore islets
into their structures, such as those in Sai harbor in northern Honshu, Japan, and the connection to
the mainland which transformed Ilhéu do Diego from an islet. De-islanded through its fixed link to
the mainland, the former islet's name, Ilhéu do Diego, became functionally redundant (and thereby
archaic) and the location took the fort as its namesake. Some former island sites have retained
designations as islands after the draining/subsidence of surrounding waters and their fixed linkage to
land (England's Isle of Ely and Vancouver's Granville Island being respective cases in point). Their
names are thereby archaic in that they reflect the islands' pasts rather than their present structures or
transport logistics. Other examples include Singapore and its causeway, and the various Dutch delta
islands, such as IJsselmonde.
Artificial islands
Almost all of Earth's islands are natural and have been formed by tectonic forces or volcanic
eruptions. However, artificial (man-made) islands also exist, such as the island in Osaka Bay off the
Japanese island of Honshu, on which Kansai International Airport is located. Artificial islands can be
built using natural materials (e.g., earth, rock, or sand) or artificial ones (e.g., concrete slabs or
recycled waste).[31][32]
Sometimes natural islands are artificially enlarged, such as Vasilyevsky Island in the Russian city of
St. Petersburg, which had its western shore extended westward by some 0.5 km in the construction of
the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg.[33]
Island superlatives
Largest island: Greenland[35]
Largest island in a lake: Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada[35] Kansai International Airport, on an
artificial island
Largest lake island within a lake island: Treasure Island, in
Lake Mindemoya on Manitoulin Island[36]
Largest island in a river: Bananal Island, Tocantins, Brazil[37]
Largest island in fresh water: Marajó, Pará, Brazil
Largest sand island: Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia[38]
Largest artificial island: Flevopolder, the Netherlands (created 1969)[39]
Largest uninhabited island: Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada[40]
Most populous island: Java, Indonesia[41]
Lowest island: Franchetti Island, Lake Afrera, Ethiopia
Island shared by largest number of countries: Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia)
Island with the highest point: New Guinea (Puncak Jaya, 4,884 m, 16,024 ft), Indonesia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 5/11
5/31/23, 9:05 AM Island - Wikipedia
See also
Islands portal
Desert island
Great wall of sand
Island biogeography
Island ecology
Island country
Island hopping
Lake island
List of ancient islands
List of archipelagos
List of artificial islands
List of divided islands
List of fictional islands
List of island countries
List of islands by area
List of islands by body of water
List of islands by continent
List of islands by country
List of islands by highest point
List of islands by name
List of islands by population
List of islands by population density
List of islands named after people
Phantom island
Private island
River island
Rock fever
Small Island Developing States
Tidal island
References
1. How Many Islands are in the World? (https://a-z-animals.com/blog/how-many-islands-are-in-the-w
orld/)
2. 形形色色的海洋岛屿 (http://rdbk1.ynlib.cn:6251/Qk/Paper/170949#anchorList) (in Chinese)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 6/11
5/31/23, 9:05 AM Island - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 7/11
5/31/23, 9:05 AM Island - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 8/11
5/31/23, 9:05 AM Island - Wikipedia
23. Schlömer, Antje; Geissler, Wolfram H.; Jokat, Wilfried; Jegen, Marion (March 15, 2017). "Hunting
for the Tristan mantle plume – An upper mantle tomography around the volcanic island of Tristan
da Cunha" (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X16307415). Earth and
Planetary Science Letters. 462: 122–131. Bibcode:2017E&PSL.462..122S (https://ui.adsabs.harv
ard.edu/abs/2017E&PSL.462..122S). doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2016.12.028 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F
j.epsl.2016.12.028). ISSN 0012-821X (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0012-821X).
24. Claudino-Sales, Vanda (2019), "Surtsey, Iceland" (http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-94-024-15
28-5_35), Coastal World Heritage Sites, Coastal Research Library, Dordrecht: Springer
Netherlands, vol. 28, pp. 237–242, doi:10.1007/978-94-024-1528-5_35 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2
F978-94-024-1528-5_35), ISBN 978-94-024-1526-1, S2CID 240206292 (https://api.semanticschol
ar.org/CorpusID:240206292), archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20220821154209/https://link.s
pringer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-024-1528-5_35) from the original on August 21, 2022,
retrieved August 21, 2022
25. Woodroffe, Colin; Biribo, Naomi (January 1, 2011). "Atolls". In Hopley, D. (ed.). Encyclopedia of
Modern Coral Reefs: structure, form and process (https://ro.uow.edu.au/scipapers/1060). The
Netherlands: Springer. pp. 51–71. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20201025061721/https://
ro.uow.edu.au/scipapers/1060/) from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved August 21,
2022.
26. Austrian Academy of Sciences (2002). "The Tropical Islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans".
Geographie. Austriaca. doi:10.1553/3-7001-2738-3 (https://doi.org/10.1553%2F3-7001-2738-3).
27. Upton, B. G. J. (1982), Nairn, Alan E. M.; Stehli, Francis G. (eds.), "Oceanic Islands" (http://link.sp
ringer.com/10.1007/978-1-4615-8038-6_13), The Ocean Basins and Margins, Boston, MA:
Springer US, pp. 585–648, doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-8038-6_13 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-1-
4615-8038-6_13), ISBN 978-1-4615-8040-9, archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202208211542
02/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4615-8038-6_13) from the original on August
21, 2022, retrieved August 21, 2022
28. Arnberger, Hertha, Erik (2011). The Tropical Islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Vienna:
Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. ISBN 978-3-7001-2738-3.
29. Baldacchino, Godfrey (2007). Bridging islands: the impact of fixed links (https://www.worldcat.org/
oclc/70884504). Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island: Acorn Press. ISBN 978-1-894838-24-5.
OCLC 70884504 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70884504).
30. Hayward, Philip (April 28, 2016). "Introduction: Towards an Expanded Concept of Island Studies"
(http://shimajournal.org/issues/v10n1/c.-Hayward-Introduction-Shima-v10n1.pdf) (PDF). Shima:
The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures. 10 (1). doi:10.21463/shima.10.1.03 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.21463%2Fshima.10.1.03). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2022020422320
4/https://www.shimajournal.org/issues/v10n1/c.-Hayward-Introduction-Shima-v10n1.pdf) (PDF)
from the original on February 4, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
31. Gammon, Katherine (August 6, 2012). "Building Artificial Islands That Rise With the Sea" (http://w
ww.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-07/building-artificial-islands-rise-sea). Popular Science.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160605152821/http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/
2012-07/building-artificial-islands-rise-sea) from the original on June 5, 2016. Retrieved June 28,
2016.
32. Mirasola, Christopher (July 15, 2015). "What Makes an Island? Land Reclamation and the South
China Sea Arbitration" (http://amti.csis.org/what-makes-an-island-land-reclamation-and-the-south-
china-sea-arbitration/). Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20160527053430/http://amti.csis.org/what-makes-an-island-land-reclamation-and-the-south-chi
na-sea-arbitration/) from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 9/11
5/31/23, 9:05 AM Island - Wikipedia
External links
Definition of island (https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part8.htm)
from United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 10/11
5/31/23, 9:05 AM Island - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island 11/11