Eco system Galápagos: Part 1 Geography

Hello and welcome to the first post about the Galapagos Islands.

Currents and Winds

The volcanic islands of Galápagos started to form 4 million years ago. Where they lie, is unique. They are situated directly on the equator, on the Nazca tectonic plate. The Galapagos Islands are on the crossroads of three currents. The cold South Equatorial Current flows westward towards Galapagos. The warm Panama Current runs in from the north. And finally, the deep sea Cromwell Current runs from the west. The Galapagos Islands are also where the Northeast Trade Wind meets the Southeast Trade Wind.

Galapagos Hotspot

21 Volcanoes make up the Galápagos Islands with 13 still active. The reason for this volcanic activity is a giant hotspot under the island. A hotspot is a gigantic column of super heated molten lava, rising up towards the surface. It is immense; at least sixty miles (97 kilometers) across and 1800 miles (2897 kilometers) deep. It connects the islands to the centre of the Earth.

The hotspot started to form the islands four million years ago. Now, there are 16 islands all of which are volcanoes. Most of these are, however, extinct. The oldest volcanoes are now crumbling into the sea. The youngest of these volcanoes is Fernandina, having been formed 500, 000 years ago. The hotspot is slowly moving westwards, this is noticeable as the oldest islands are in the east and the youngest in the west.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. We would like to also thank David Attenborough for his amazing documentaries on these fascinating islands. More on him and the islands to come!

Sorry that this is late and that we missed animal of the week, we are all back at school and so busy, we hope you can understand. Thanks again.

Sources:
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/05galapagos/background/hotspots/hotspots.html
https://www.discoveringgalapagos.org.uk/discover/geographical-processes/location-formation/hot-spots-volcanoes/

Images:
Map: This image is owned by Hans (on pixabay.com).
Hotspot: This image, owned by Daniel Kwok (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

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