Description
The Maldivian reef islands have been found to exhibit a high degree of short-term variability in response to monsoonal climate patterns. The island shorelines display the effects of rapid morphological adjustments in response to reversals in wind direction (from the south-west during winter monsoon and north-east during the summer monsoon) and wave patterns.
Adangau is a small uninhabited island of the central part of the Faafu Atoll. The island extends for 200 m in a North-South direction and is covered with flourishing shrubby vegetation and coconut trees in its central part.
On the west side of the island, the presence of beach rock is evident and continuous all along the shoreline. Beach rocks are the result of the lithification of unconsolidated sediments by calcium carbonate cements in the tidal zone of mainly tropical and subtropical beaches. Thet represent an effective natural shore defence, thanks to the reduction of erosion rates. For this reason, the western side of the island is reasonably more stable in comparison to the eastern one, characterized by an elongated sand strip showing high seasonable mobility.
Credits: model provided by Luca Fallati, MaRHE Center (https://marhe.unimib.it/).
References
- Cabioch, G., Davies, P., Done, T., Gischler, E., Macintyre, I. G., Wood, R., & Woodroffe, C. (2010). Encyclopedia of modern coral reefs: structure, form and process. Springer Science & Business Media
- Kench, P. S., & Brander, R. W. (2006). Response of reef island shorelines to seasonal climate oscillations: South Maalhosmadulu atoll, Maldives. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 111(1), 1–12.