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Solomon Islands is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, that lies east of Papua New Guinea.
IslandsEdit
The major part of the nation of Solomon Islands is the mountainous volcanic islands of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), which includes Choiseul, the Shortland Islands, the New Georgia Islands, Santa Isabel, the Russell Islands, the Florida Islands, Tulagi, Malaita, Maramasike, Ulawa, Owaraha (Santa Ana), Makira (San Cristobal), and the main island of Guadalcanal. (The largest island in the archipelago is Bougainville, but it is politically an autonomous region of the neighbouring country of Papua New Guinea.) Solomon Islands also includes isolated low-lying atolls and volcanic islands such as Sikaiana, Rennell Island, Bellona Island, the Santa Cruz Islands and the remote, tiny outliers, Tikopia, Anuta, and Fatutaka.
The distance between the most western and most eastern islands is about Template:Convert. Especially the Santa Cruz Islands, north of Vanuatu, are isolated at more than Template:Convert from the other islands. The total land size is Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It has the 22nd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of Template:Convert.
Geology and ecologyEdit
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Volcanoes with varying degrees of activity are situated on some of the larger islands, while many of the smaller islands are simply tiny atolls covered in sand and palm trees.
The baseline survey of marine biodiversity in the Solomon Islands that was carried out in 2004,<ref name="TE2006">Template:Cite report</ref> found 474 species of corals in the Solomons as well as nine species which could be new to science. This is the second highest diversity of corals in the World, second only to the Raja Ampat Islands in eastern Indonesia.<ref>Doubilet, David (2007). Ultra Marine: In far eastern Indonesia, the Raja Ampat islands embrace a phenomenal coral wilderness. National Geographic, September 2007. Originally retrieved from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/09/indonesia/doubilet-text. Archived on 2008-04-09 at https://web.archive.org/web/20080409084522/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/09/indonesia/doubilet-text.</ref>
ClimateEdit
Template:Further The climate is tropical, though temperatures are rarely extreme due to cooling winds blowing off the surrounding seas. Daytime temperatures are normally Template:Convert. From April to October (the dry season), the southeast trade winds blow, gusting at times up to Template:Convert or more.
November to March is the wet season—the northwest monsoon—typically warmer and wetter. Cyclones arise in the Coral Sea and the area of the Solomon Islands, but they usually veer toward Vanuatu and New Caledonia or down the coast of Australia.
Climate dataEdit
StatisticsEdit
Geographic coordinates: Template:Coord
Area:
total:
Template:Convert<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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land:
Template:Convert
water:
Template:Convert
Coastline: 5,313 km
Maritime claims:
Measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
continental shelf:
Template:Convert
exclusive economic zone:
Template:Convert (200 nmi)
territorial sea: Template:Convert
Terrain: Mostly rugged mountains with some low coral atolls
Elevation extremes:
lowest point:
Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point:
Mount Popomanaseu Template:Convert (not Mount Makarakomburu)
Natural resources: fish, forests, gold, bauxite, phosphates, lead, zinc, nickel
Land use:
arable land:
0.62%
permanent crops:
2.04%
other:
97.34% (2005)
Irrigated land: NA
Natural hazards: Tropical cyclones, heavy rain, floods, tsunamis; earthquakes; volcanic activity
Environment – current issues: Deforestation; soil erosion; much of the surrounding coral reefs are dead or dying
Environment – international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling
Extreme pointsEdit
This is a list of the extreme points of Solomon Islands, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
- Northernmost point – Ontong Java Atoll, Malaita Province
- Easternmost point – Fatutaka, Santa Cruz Islands, Temotu Province
- Southernmost point – South Reef, Indispensable Reef, Rennell and Bellona Province
- Westernmost point – Mono Island, Treasury Islands, Western Province
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
Template:Solomon Islands topics Template:Geography of Oceania Template:CIA World Factbook