Solomon Islands: Geography#
| Location | Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea |
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| Geographic Coordinates | 8 00 S, 159 00 E -8.0,159.0 |
| Area | total: 28,896 sq km land: 27,986 sq km water: 910 sq km We are unable to verify those figures from Factbook, since the 6 main sources we used for checking give different figures as follows: Factbook: 28896 DBpedia: 28399 Geoname: 28450 Infoplease: 0 Britannica: 28370 Wolfram: 28896 Attempted Explanation: Please help us to try to explain the discrepancies by sending us helpful information to office nospam@TUGraz.at @global-geography.org |
| Land boundaries | 0 km |
| Coastline | 5,313 km |
| Elevation Extremes | lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Popomanaseu 2,310 m |
| Highest Mountains | Due to difference in mountain rankings taken from two data sources we are listing here both lists : According to Wolfram: Mount Popomanaseu 2335 m; Mount Rano 1700 m According to Geonames: Mount Popomanaseu 2335 m; Mount Makarakomburu 2310 m Attempted Explanation: Please help us to try to explain the discrepancies by sending us helpful information to office nospam@TUGraz.at @global-geography.org |
| Terrain | mostly rugged mountains with some low coral atolls |
| Natural Hazards | typhoons, but rarely destructive; geologically active region with frequent earthquakes, tremors, and volcanic activity; tsunamis volcanism: Tinakula (elev. 851 m) has frequent eruption activity, while an eruption of Savo (elev. 485 m) could affect the capital Honiara on nearby Guadalcanal |
| Natural Resource | fish, forests, gold, bauxite, phosphates, lead, zinc, nickel |
| Land Use | arable land: 0.62% permanent crops: 2.25% other: 97.13% (2011) |
| Climate | tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather |
| Irrigated Land | NA |
| Renewable Water Resources | 44.7 cu km (2011) |
| Environment_CurrentIssues | deforestation; soil erosion; many of the surrounding coral reefs are dead or dying |
| Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Large Cities |
Important Cities
| Geography-note | strategic location on sea routes between the South Pacific Ocean, the Solomon Sea, and the Coral Sea; on 2 April 2007 an undersea earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale occurred 345 km WNW of the capital Honiara; the resulting tsunami devastated coastal areas of Western and Choiseul provinces with dozens of deaths and thousands dislocated; the provincial capital of Gizo was especially hard hit |
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