The ring-shaped coral islands known as atolls, like this one in the Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean, may trace their formation to sea levels repeatedly rising and falling over hundreds of ...

Almost 200 years ago, during his voyage on the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin charted reef systems around the world, many of them with astonishing accuracy. On the basis of his observations, he formed a ...

HOUSTON - (Oct. 12, 2020) - Marine geologist and oceanographer André Droxler knows Charles Darwin's theory about atolls is incorrect. But Droxler, who's studied coral reefs for more than 40 years, ...

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands lie in the eastern Indian Ocean, about 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) northwest of the Australian city of Perth. Comprised of coral atolls and islands, the archipelago ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American "The surface of the earth is far more ...

What’s new: More than half of the tree cover in Pacific atolls is largely composed of “abandoned and overgrown” colonial-era coconut palm plantations, reveal satellite images in a study published in ...