Senkaku Islands

The Senkaku Islands are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, northeast of Taiwan, east of mainland China and west of Okinawa, spanning about 7 square kilometers across five main islands and three barren rocks. Most of the group, including the largest island, Uotsuri, is sedimentary in origin, built from Miocene-era sandstone and conglomerate, while two of the smaller islands, Kuba and Taisho, are volcanic, with Kuba containing andesite lava. Uotsuri rises steeply from the water in boulder-strewn slopes to a maximum elevation of 383 meters, and the surrounding continental shelf runs 100 to 150 meters deep. The islands lie about 120 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan and 200 nautical miles from both the Chinese mainland and Okinawa.