Islands of the Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the Earth's second largest ocean, covering an area in the region of 106 million km² —
approximately one-fifth of its surface. The ocean forms an S-shaped basin separating the Americas (on the west) from
the landmasses of Eurasia and Africa (on the east).
Important marginal and regional seas include the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Alboran Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Celtic Sea, the Gulf of Finland, the Ionian Sea, the Kattegat, the Ligurian Sea, the North Sea, the Gulf of Riga, and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Without its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers and are of some 82 million km².
The open waters of the Atlantic Ocean have a relatively small number of islands. These include Fernando de Noronha, the Azores, Madeira Islands, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Bermuda and the islands of the Ascension, St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha group. However, it is along the continental margins and amidst the marginal seas of the Atlantic — the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas — where most islands are to be found. Islands in these regions include the British Isles, the myriad islands of the eastern Mediterranean and the great archipelagoes of the West Indies.
Major island types of the Atlantic Ocean. Top row, left to right: (i) Active volcanism in the Mediterranean, Mt. Etna, Sicily; (ii) an atoll-like platform reef - Arrecife Alacrán, Campeche Bank Reefs; (iii) Navassa - a raised coral island of the Caribbean. Bottom row, left to rigt: (i) large carbonate banks of the Bahamas; (ii) highly dissected former stratovolcano - Saint Helena; (iii) mountainous, reef-fringed island of the southwestern Caribbean - Isla de Providencia, San Andres Archipelago.
