A question for Darwin

It is easy for one to daze into postcard scenes of these fantasy islands. It is also easy for one to ignore the underlying realities behind these tiny specks scattered over large distances of a deep Ocean.

Someone couldn't have just scattered them? They cover an area, roughly equal to that of UK! Contrary to western belief, these islands do NOT float on water... "like swans on lakes".
So how on Earth?

Darwin must have proposed a theory.
The theory of coral island formation: "These could have been leftover fragments from a huge mountain. A volcanic mountain erupted here, and burned away to the bottom of the ocean... leaving thousands of these tall pinacles to form islands."

Hmmmm. Kidding? Right?

There are 1,200 islands in the maldives. Could be a whole lot more. Someone has yet to come up with a defintion of island. There are islands who peek in the morning and get washed off later in the day!

While none of these islands rise above one or two meters... the bottom is even a deeper mystery.

Originally posted on Flickr on December 2005 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahmedzahid/71992423/