all started from a sandpit

atoll origins

Sounds like Bondi is pretty flat today (1ft max), just like over here in the Maldives. Looks small in Sydney until Saturday where are very large south swell is brewing.

With all this flatness, I thought I’d look into how the Maldives were formed. There are conflicting theories on how these atolls came about, but here it is in basic terms – out in the middle of ocean, miles away from any substantial landmass, volcanic islands are slowly sinking. When the volcanic islands were submerged, coral reefs blossomed in a ring shape around where the land was. Because coral needs sunlight, it grew upwards to sea level. Conditions are more favourable for the coral on the edge of the ring, so the centre of the circle rots and becames a lagoon. Throw in some storms, wind and tides and the centre of the lagoon becomes a sand island with all the coral fragments uniting. Couple of coconuts float on past and they grow on the sand pit stabilizing the soil. Few birds and crabs rock on up spreading seeds and you’ll get a island with lush vegetation in no time. New islands are still forming everywhere here, and some of the islands are joining up – but not in our lifetime.

Also…the shores of these islands are littered with dead tree trunks. A type of tree not grown in the local area as they’ve travelled all the way from Indonesia during the massive 2004 Tsunami (thats thousands of miles away). Enough ramble, have a good day, uge

Walk around this island in 4 mins

this is how a island starts

Jim on a 10 sqm island

Sumatran Tree from Tsunami

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