Editing Marquesas Islands (section)

===Geology===
[[File:Hatiheu Bay, Nuku Hiva (French Polynesia).jpg|thumb|left|[[Basalt]]ic rock formation in [[Hatihe'u|Hatiheu]], [[Nuku Hiva]] island.]]

Most of the Marquesas Islands are of volcanic origin, created by the [[Marquesas hotspot]] that underlies the [[Pacific Plate]]. The Marquesas Islands lie above a submarine volcanic [[plateau]] of the same name. The plateau, like the islands, is generally believed to be less than 5 million years old, though one hypothesis is that the plateau (not the islands) is significantly older, and has been formed by forces similar to those that have formed the [[Andean Volcanic Belt#Volcanic gaps|Inca Plateau]], which is [[subduction|subducting]] under northern [[Peru]].<ref>[http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/360/ The "lost Inca Plateau": cause of flat subduction beneath Peru?] {{webarchive|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20100703234939/http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/360/ |date=3 July 2010 }}, 1999</ref>

The Marquesas islands are estimated to range in age from 1.3 million years old (Fatu Hiva) to 6 million years old (Eiao). All of them except [[Motu One (Marquesas Islands)|Motu One]] are [[volcanic island]]s. Motu One is a [[low island]], consisting of a small [[sand bank]] on a [[coral reef]], the only [[atoll]] in the Marquesas Islands. Unlike most French Polynesian islands, the Marquesas islands (other than Motu One) are not surrounded by protective fringing reefs.<ref name="tp">{{cite news |title=Papeete measures 5 small waves during tsunami red alert |url=http://en.tahitipresse.pf/print.cfm?presse=28105 |work=[[Tahitipresse]] |date=29 September 2009 |access-date=2009-09-30 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20091003145955/http://en.tahitipresse.pf/print.cfm?presse=28105 |archive-date=3 October 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In those islands, coral is found only in bays and other protected areas, or, in the case of [[Fatu Huku]], in an unusual place: in fossilized form at the top of the island. The [[South Equatorial Current]] lashes all these islands fiercely; its force has carved [[sea-cave]]s that dot their shores. Although the islands have valleys that empty into small bays, they are remarkable for their mountain ridges, which end abruptly in cliffs at the edge of the sea.