Pulau Layang Layang’s spectacular seascape is a diver’s delight

PULAU Layang Layang must be the most civilised island among the archipelago of reefs and islands in the South China Sea.

It actually has an airport where excited divers land on their way to its underwater paradise.

Perched on the rim of the island’s lagoon is a navy base, a research facility of the Department of Fisheries, a resort and a colony of birds.

A wind-turbine generator punctuates the low built-up area, giving the island a 20th century look.

The reef, however, is ancient, with the highest coral formation being about 8,000 years old and coinciding with the highest reach of the sea line the recent past.

Charles Darwin, of the evolution-theory fame, suggested a mechanism for the formation of coral reefs.

He pointed out the relatedness of the different coral reefs — there are three main ones.

Fringing reefs are those that, as the name implies, encrust on the main islands.

Barrier reefs have a dividing body of water between the island and the reef.

The last category is an atoll which has lost the island in the middle and is only represented by a ring of reefs.

Darwin forwarded the idea that the three types of reefs evolved in geologic time from one form to another.

As the islands sink through tectonic movement, encrusting corals of the fringing reefs grow upwards, seeking the light. Corals, like plants, need the illumination to survive.

Continue reading (incl. pic) at: Pulau Layang Layang’s spectacular seascape is a diver’s delight
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