How did I pick the islands to research? Basically I brought up Google maps, zoomed in on the Caribbean and followed the coastlines picking out anything that sounded interesting. When I hit Belize I found Turneffe Atoll. At the time I hadn't realized exactly what an Atoll was, so before I post about Turneffe I want to tell you a little about Atolls and how their formed.
An atoll ( /ˈætɒl/, /ˈætɔːl/, /ˈætoʊl/, /əˈtɒl/, /əˈtɔːl/ or /əˈtoʊl/),[1][2] sometimes called a coral atoll, is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands/cays on the rim.[3](p60)[4] The coral of the atoll often sits atop the rim of an extinct seamount or volcano which has eroded or subsided partially beneath the water. The lagoon forms over the volcanic crater or caldera while the higher rim remains above water or at shallow depths that permit the coral to grow and form the reefs. For the atoll to persist, continued erosion or subsidence must be at a rate slow enough to permit reef growth upwards and outwards to replace the lost height. Wikipedia
Crazy stuff right? But wait it gets crazier!
Because Atolls are often remote and hard to get to the government, and not just the U.S., but France and Britain as well thought they would make great places to test nuclear weapons. In fact the first hydrogen bomb was tested by the U.S. on Bikini Atoll and between 1947 and 1962 was home to more than 100 other nuclear explosions. Unfortunately as a result of this testing many Atolls were destroyed or damaged.
National Geografic.organization
Major bummer!
I don't know an exact number of Atolls in the word, in fact no one really does. It's estimated to be around 400 but there are arguments out there that some of them don't completely qualify as atolls. People more qualified than myself have used satellite imagery and to their best guess it's around 400. So we will go with that number. Out of the 400 a lot of them are deserted or uninhabitable but there are some that are amazing. Did you know the Maldives are atolls? I didn't either but they are.
I can't wait to find more Atolls during my research to live on. It's my new passion! I must live on an atoll.
Up next Turneffe Atoll, Belize
Aren't Atolls amazing? Know anyone who wants to learn more about them? Why not share this with them? Have a question about Atolls? Leave me a comment.
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Awesome, i'm glad i have learned something today :)). I like your way of finding :))
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