The Galapagos Islands were once called Las Islands Encantadas (Bewitched Islands). The Galapagos archipelagos is composed of five major islands -- Isabella, Fernandina, San Cristobal, San Salvador, and Santa Cruz. There are also eight other large islands and over forty islets and smaller rocks with official names.
The islands are all of animals is the contrast between the stark white beaches, the steel-grey ocean of the outer edges of the islands, the blue-green ocean of the sheltered areas of the islands, the rough grey-black lava rocks, and the peaceful forests.
Click here to learn more about terrestrial volcanoes and see more pictures.
The Galapagos Islands lie across the equator at the 90th meridian west. The nearest land is Ecuador, over 960 kilometers to the east.
The total land area of the islands is about 8000 square kilometers, spread over 45,000 square kilometers of sea. The archipelago is 450 kilometers long from Darwin Island, in the northwest, to Espanola Island in the southeast.
The islands formed due to an uneven line of ridges and chasms about 100 kilometers north known as the Galapagos rift. It is an area of great geologic activity -- the Galapagos Islands are one of the most active oceanic volcanoes in the earth. Fifty-three eruptions have been recorded from eight of the Galapagos volcanoes.
The creation of the islands is due mainly to the existence of three plates of the Earth's crust: the Pacific, the Nacza, and the Cocos. As a result of the spreading of the sea floor along the Galapagos Rift and the East Pacific Rise, the islands are moviing east at more than seven centimeters per year. Because of this movement, the "hot spot" that created the islands keeps creating new islands. The final result is the "trail" of islands that we call the Galapagos.
Each major island, with the sole exception of Isabela, which is formed from six volcanoes joined above sea level, consists of a single large shield volcano. The oldest rock in the islands is found on the southeastern island of Espanola. It is about three and one quarter million years old. The youngest rocks are found in the western islands of Fernandina and Isabela -- they are a mere seven hundred thousand years old.
The climate of the Galapagos is unusually dry for the tropics.
There are two seasons, as is common to equatorial areas. From January to June, the warm/wet season, air temperatures are warm and the skies are fairly clear with occasional rain showers. From June to December, the cool/gry season, the air is cooler, the skies are often lightly overcast, and there is almost no precipitation in the lowlands while the highlands are almost continually wet.
Between seasons, the weather is unpredictable and this interseasonal period may last as long as a few months, its dates varying from year to year.
The clmiate in different parts of the archipelago is also varied. Sea temperatures range from as low as 16 degrees Celsius (61 degrees Fahrenheit) to as high as 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit).
Sometimes, the warm water is much warmer due to a larger flow and an "El Nino" year results. Surface water temperatures are higher and rainfall can increase greatly. Land life increases, but sea birds, which depend on the productive cooler waters, experience dramatic breeding failures.
In late 1982, the most dramatic El Nino even on record occurred. Its results are still visable.
This page, all photographs, and all drawings are copyright (c) 1995 by Melissa Binde. Please do not use without permission! Mail all questions and comments to: 
