Definition
The Society Islands are a group of aligned volcanic islands in the south Pacific, with Tahiti as the main island. Their name is usually thought to have been attributed by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society of London. Politically speaking, these islands are part of the French Polynesia.
Environmental setting
Located in the southern Pacific Ocean between 17°52′S–148°4′W and 15°48′S–154°32′W, the Society Islands are subdivided from southeast to northwest into the Windward Island Group (Mehetia, Tahiti, Moorea, Maiao, Tetiaroa) and the Leeward Island Group (Huahine, Bora-Bora, Raiatea, Tahaa, Maupiti, Tupai, Mopelia, Scilly, Bellinghausen). They result from the activity of a volcanic hot spot at present located close to Mehetia at the southeastern end of the island chain. The high volcanic islands increase in age from less than 0.3 to about 5 million years along a southeast–northwest axis (Guillou et al., 2005). Except for Mehetia, all these islands are surrounded...
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Bibliography
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Montaggioni, L.F. (2011). Tahiti/Society Islands. In: Hopley, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_155
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_155
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