Teddy Oienp age 11 Tuscon, AZ:

How are islands made?

Every islands of courses is a body of land surrounded by water. And almost every island could tell you a different story of how it came to be. Some were once part of large land masses. Some poked up from the sea bed far below. Most of them have been under water at some time. Some are smaller than they once were some are larger.

Find the Hawaiian Islands in your Atlas. They were made from volcanos. Eruptions began deep below on the ocean floor. The piles of ashes grew higher and higher.  Finally the volcanic mountains broke surface. New islands poked out of the sea.

The British Isles were once part of Europe. The sea broke in and separated theme.  The tiny Azores in mid‑Atlantic are really mountain topes They are the crests of a huge range of undersea mountains. The vast island continent of Australia is said to have broken off and drifted away from the land mass of Asia and Europe.

Same of the most fascinating islands are built by tiny sea creatures. These are the coral islands of warm and tropical seas. The little corals build them bit by bit. After long ages  a solid mass of coral breaks the surface. A now island is born for the birds to rest upon.