Ten percent of the land, or about 26 km 2, is cultivated with taro, bananas, coconuts, and other fruit. ![]() Often the soil is highly alkaline, and a deficiency in nitrogen, potash, and iron severely limits agricultural potential. Some islands are marshy, while others are higher owing to sand and gravel having been piled up by wave action. On the other hand, uninhabited islands have mostly different kinds of bushes ( magū, boshi) and mangroves ( kuredi, kandū) along the waterline as well as some coconut trees. Inhabited islands have small groves of banana, papaya, drumstick and citrus trees by the homesteads, while breadfruit trees and coconut palms are grown in available patches of land. The tropical vegetation of Maldives differs in the inhabited and in the uninhabited islands. The most notable example of this type of atoll is the large island of Fuvahmulah situated in the Equatorial Channel. Some atolls, however, consist of one large, isolated island surrounded by a steep coral beach. On average, each atoll has approximately 5 to 10 inhabited islands the uninhabited islands of each atoll number approximately 20 to 60. The islands are too small to have rivers, but small lakes and marshes can be found in some of them. The Maldives has no hills, but some islands have dunes which can reach 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) above sea level, like the NW coast of Hithadhoo (Seenu Atoll) in Addu Atoll. Although some of the larger atolls are approximately 50 km (31 mi) long from north to south, and 30 km (19 mi) wide from east to west, no individual island is longer than eight kilometers. Islands average only one to two square kilometers in area, and lie between 1–1.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 11 in) above mean sea level. ![]() Most atolls of the Maldives consist of a large, ring-shaped coral reef supporting numerous small islands. Geographic coordinates: 3☁5′N 73☀0′E / 3.250°N 73.000☎ / 3.250 73.000 Physical geographyĬross section of a coral reef in the Maldives In Addu Atoll the westernmost islands are connected by roads over the reef and the total length of the road is 14 km (8.7 mi). The largest island of Maldives is Gan, which belongs to Laamu Atoll or Hahdhummathi Maldives. For administrative purposes the Maldives government organized these atolls into twenty-one administrative divisions. ![]() Only near the southern end of this natural coral barricade do two open passages permit safe ship navigation from one side of the Indian Ocean to the other through the territorial waters of Maldives. Composed of live coral reefs and sand bars, the atolls are situated atop a submarine ridge, 960 km (600 mi) long that rises abruptly from the depths of the Indian Ocean and runs from north to south. It has the 31st largest exclusive economic zone of 923,322 km 2 (356,497 sq mi). It consists of approximately 1,190 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 26 atolls, spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometers, making this one of the most geographically dispersed countries in the world. It has a total land size of 298 km 2 (115 sq mi) which makes it the smallest country in Asia. Maldives is an island country in the Indian Ocean, South Asia, south-southwest of India. See also Atolls of the Maldives for an in-depth description of the atolls. ![]() Unnamed location on Vilingili Island in the Addu Atoll
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |