Central Pacific Island Environments

ISLANDS.....

The Hawaiian Archipelago is
a northwest-southeast trending group of islands
located in the Central Pacific Ocean, 2000 miles from
the nearest continental land and over 500 miles from any
other islands. Found here are low-lying coral atolls and
barely submerged reefs, isolated pinnacles of rock,
and the majestic high islands of Hawai'i nei.

The geologically oldest islands
are those of the Leeward Group with Kure
Atoll being the westernmost. The youngest is the
Island of Hawai'i (the Big Island), which is southernmost
in the island chain and is an island still growing as
lava erupts from its active volcanoes.

The distance from Kure Atoll to the
Big Island is over 1,500 miles (2450 km).
Liste here are the isolated reefs and the islands
of the Hawaiian Archipelago, arranged
from northwest to southeast:

The Leeward (Northwest) Reefs and Islands
Kure Atoll | Midway Atoll | Pearl and Hermes Reef | Lisianski Reef | Laysan
Gardner | French Frigate Shoal | Necker | Nihoa | Kaula Rock
The Windward Islands
Ni'ihau | Kaua'i | O'ahu O`ahu | Moloka'i | Lana'i | Maui | Kaho'olawe | Hawai'i

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Last modified April 11, 1999 by webmasters at (guinther@aecos.com)