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The Galapagos Islands were formed about 3-5 million years ago. They are the tips of gigantic undersea volcanoes and the area is one of the world's most active volcanic regions. Some of the volcanoes are still active and there have been over 50 eruptions in the last 200 years. Each island is a volcano, except Isabella, which is made up of 6 volcanoes.

Do you know how many islands form the Galapagos? Click here for the answer

Would you like to find out more about the volcanic formations found on these islands?.

Climate
As the islands are so isolated the climate is determined almost entirely by ocean currents, so the wind has a major effect on the islands.

El Nino Phenomenon - This occurs when there are no SE tradewinds to push the cold current (called the Humboldt current). As a result of this no cooling takes place, which means that there is no "upwelling" and the water temperature rises. Do you know why this can be a problem in the Galapagos?