On the preceding page we looked at the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean, in which the deepest spot is 30,180 feet and which is over 4,000 miles wide, also has a chain of underwater mountains 10,000 miles long. Some of these are higher than the Rockies, but still out of sight under the water. By contrast, the floor of the North Atlantic is mostly wide, flat areas in which deep sea channels have made cuts like rivers.
It would take an entire book to list all the islands in every ocean and the details of islands such as Japan, the Philippines, the Bahamas, Cuba, Iceland, Madagascar and many others which represent entire nations. These have risen up through the ages to become the home of millions of people and often supply much of the world's food.
Most of these islands have been formed in one of two ways. Many are volcanic, that is, they began as fierce volcanoes, breaking through the ocean floor. Over a period of many years with many eruptions, they became higher and higher, finally breaking through the surface and rising above it. Some of these, like the island of Hawaii, are still active volcanoes and are adding to their size with thick fiery streams of lava.
Other islands are formed by coral that built colonies on burned-out underwater peaks, lifting their summits higher year by year and eventually rising above the surface where waves of the ocean gradually deposited many things that decayed and turned into soil. Birds, making their nests on these new lands, also often help by dropping seeds that take root, helped by the fertility of decaying fish and other marine life that have been washed into the coral by stormy waters. Wind and rain also bring deposits of dust and vegetation from great distances, so that in the course of many years rich, fertile soil is formed.
Some people fear that someday the oceans may rise and cover many shores and even cities. But there is a Bible verse that should remove that fear. It says, "Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth... and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?" (Job 38:8,118Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? (Job 38:8)
11And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed? (Job 38:11)). We know all these things reveal the hand of the Lord, the Creator of all things, who keeps everything under His controlling power.