Abstract
DIEGO GARCIA is a typical atoll; a narrow strip of land varying in width from a mile to 30 yards, nearly completely encircles a lagoon of irregular shape. The lagoon is open to the ocean towards the north-west, its mouth being divided by three small islets into four channels, of which three are sufficiently deep to allow ships to enter the lagoon. The whole of the land composing the atoll is very low; the highest point in the island is not more than 30 feet above the level of high tide, and this height, which is quite exceptional, is due to the accumulation of great heaps of sand through the action of the south-east trade winds which blow with considerable strength for more than one-half of the year. Diego Garcia is the southernmost atoll of the Chagos Group; it lies in S. lat. 7° 26′, E. long. 72° 23′, and forms the last of the great chain of coral formations reaching from the Laccadive Islands, through the Maldives to the Chagos Group. To i?s south-west lie the submerged atoll-shaped reefs known as Pitt's Bank and Centurion's Bank, to its north lies the huge submerged atoll known as the Great Chagos Bank. It is an interesting fact that throughout the Laccadive, Maldive, and Chagos Groups there is no instance of a fringing or of a barrier reef; nothing but coral structure rises above the waves; all the islands are atolls; none of these are upraised, but there are several submerged banks. The existence of this long line of atolls seemed to be one of the strongest arguments in favour of Darwin's theory of the formation of coral reefs.
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The Atoll of Diego Garcia and the Coral Formations of the Indian Ocean 1 . Nature 37, 546–550 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/037546a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/037546a0