Types of archipelago

Types of archipelago

Archipelagos may be found isolated in bodies of water or neighboring a large [[land mass]]. For example, [[Scotland]] has more than 700 islands surrounding its mainland which constitute an archipelago. Archipelagos are often [[volcano|volcanic]], forming along [[island arc]]s generated by [[subduction|subduction zones]] or [[Hotspot (geology)|hotspots]], but may also be the result of [[erosion]], [[Deposition (sediment)|deposition]] and [[land elevation]].

By its geological origin, islands forming archipelagos can be referred to as ''oceanic islands'', ''continental fragments'' and ''continental islands''<ref>Whittaker RJ & Fernández-Palacios JM (2007) Island Biogeography: ecology, evolution and conservation. New York, Oxford University Press</ref>. Oceanic islands are mainly of volcanic origin. Continental fragments correspond to land masses that have separated from a continental mass due to tectonic displacement. Finally, sets of islands formed close to the coast of a continent are considered continental archipelagos when they form part of the same continental shelf so islands are just exposed continental shelf.

The five largest modern countries that are mainly archipelagos are [[Indonesia]], [[Japan]], the [[Philippines]], [[New Zealand]] and the [[United Kingdom]]. The largest archipelagic state in the world, by area and population, is Indonesia.<ref>{{cite web | title=Indonesia | publisher=Central Intelligence Agency | work=The World Factbook | date=2008-12-04 | url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html | accessdate=2008-12-07| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20081210041527/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html| archivedate= 10 December 2008 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> The archipelago with the most islands is the [[Archipelago Sea]] in [[Finland]].{{citation needed|reason=Article [[List of archipelagos by number of islands]] says otherwise|date=June 2012}}
 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archipelago