Coral Reefs; Volcanic Islands; South American Geology — CompleteDarwin, Charles
Science
Coral Reefs; Volcanic Islands; South American Geology — Complete
Darwin, Charles
Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Coral reefs and islands; Geology -- South America; Islands; Volcanoes
ADMIRALTY GROUP.—From the accounts by Bougainville, Maurelle,
D’Entrecasteaux, and the scattered notices collected by Horsburgh, it
appears, that some of the many islands composing it, are high, with a
bold outline; and others are very low, small and interlaced with reefs.
All the high islands appear to be fronted by distant reefs rising
abruptly from the sea, and within some of which there is reason to
believe that the water is deep. I have therefore little doubt they are
of the barrier class.—In the southern part of the group we have _
Elizabeth_ Island, which is surrounded by a reef at the distance of a
mile; and two miles eastward of it (Krusenstern, “Append.” 1835, p. 42)
there is a little island
containing a lagoon.—Near here, also lies _ Circular-reef_ (Horsburgh,
“Direct.,” vol. i, p. 691, 4th ed.), “three or four miles in diameter
having deep water inside with an opening at the N.N.W. part, and on the
outside steep to.” I have from these data, coloured the group pale
blue, and _ Circular-reef_ dark blue.—The _Anachorites, Echequier_, and
_Hermites_, consist of innumerable low islands of coral-formation,
which probably have atoll-like forms; but not being able to ascertain
this, I have not coloured them, nor _Durour_ Island, which is described
by Carteret as low.
The CAROLINE ARCHIPELAGO is now well-known, chiefly from the
hydrographical labours of Lutké; it contains about forty groups of
atolls, and three encircled islands, two of which are engraved in Figs
2 and 7, Plate I. Commencing with the eastern part; the encircling reef
round _Ualen_ appears to be only about half a mile from the shore; but
as the land is low and covered with mangroves (“Voyage autour du
Monde,” par F. Lutké, vol. i, p. 339), the real margin has not probably
been ascertained. The extreme depth in one of the harbours within the
reef is thirty-three fathoms (see charts in “Atlas of _Coquille’s_
Voyage”), and outside at half a mile distant from the reef, no bottom
was obtained with two hundred and fifty fathoms. The reef is surmounted
by many islets, and the lagoon-like channel within is mostly shallow,
and appears to have been much encroached on by the low land surrounding
the central mountains; these facts show that time has allowed much
detritus to accumulate; coloured pale blue.—_Pouynipète_, or Seniavine.
In the greater part of the circumference of this island, the reef is
about one mile and three quarters distant; on the north side it is five
miles off the included high islets. The reef is broken in several
places; and just within it, the depth in one place is thirty fathoms,
and in another, twenty-eight, beyond which, to all appearance, there
was “un porte vaste et sur” (Lutké, vol. ii, p. 4); coloured pale
blue.—_Hogoleu_ or _Roug_. This wonderful group contains at least
sixty-two islands, and its reef is one hundred and thirty-five miles in
circuit. Of the islands, only a few, about six or eight (see “Hydrog.
Descrip.” p.
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