Geology of Malta The largest of the second set are the Victoria Lines Fault on northern Malta and the Qala Fault on southern Gozo. Overall, the islands of the archipelago are tilted towards the northeast, with cliffs on the southwest coast and descending gradients towards the northeast. The Maltese archipalego is linked to Sicily by an underwater plateau of depths of less than 100 m. During different marine regressions of the Mediterranean, Malta has been connected to Sicily by a surface isthmus by which animals have been able to cross, as evinced by the presence of island dwarfism (Maltese dwarf hippopotamus and dwarf
Hochelaga Archipelago islands in the archipelago, most notably Nuns' Island, Île Bizard, and the two islands that served as the site of Expo 67, namely Saint Helen's Island and the artificial Île Notre-Dame. The second-largest island in the archipelago is Île Jésus, which along with the Îles Laval and several smaller islands makes up the city of Laval. Other islands include the Îles de Boucherville, featuring a Québec National Park, Île Perrot, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and the neighbouring Grande-Île, as well as the smaller Dorval Island and Dowker Island. The archipelago takes its name from Hochelaga, an Iroquoian settlement on the Island of Montreal