. The wonders of the great deep, or, The physical, animal, geological, and vegetable curiosities of the ocean . Ocean; Marine animals; Marine plants. 274 THE OCEAN. matter, so that living coral is still near the surface; the superior vigour of the species inhabiting the sea- ward edge, however, has caused that edge to be more. Section of Coral Island. elevated than the interior, as at d, d; so that the appearance is now that of a rocky isle, diminished in extent, surrounded by a reef at some distance, sepa- rated by the intervention of a shallow channel, e, e: this is exactly the appearance of
. The wonders of the great deep, or, The physical, animal, geological, and vegetable curiosities of the ocean . Ocean; Marine animals; Marine plants. 274 THE OCEAN. matter, so that living coral is still near the surface; the superior vigour of the species inhabiting the sea- ward edge, however, has caused that edge to be more. Section of Coral Island. elevated than the interior, as at d, d; so that the appearance is now that of a rocky isle, diminished in extent, surrounded by a reef at some distance, sepa- rated by the intervention of a shallow channel, e, e: this is exactly the appearance of Tahiti and the larger islands generally, as I shall mention more fully when I come to the volcanic formation. The subsi- dence still goes on; and, after a while, the water, j3, /3, is level with the summit of the island, which, of course, is now an island no longer; the growth of the coral has kept pace with the depression, and it is still at the surface, as at 8, $; the more slowly grow- ing species of the interior are still overflowed, and, a8 the island is submerged in the centre, the water, *,«, is no longer an annular channel, but a round lagoon; and thus we have an atoll, as at first described. The subsequent process'of elevating and clothing the new islets is a rapid one. Chamisso observes, " As soon as it has reached such a height that it remains almost dry at low-water at the time of ebb, the. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Gosse, Philip Henry, 1810-1888. New York : J. W. Lovell
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Keywords: ., bookauthorgossephili, booksubjectmarineanimals, booksubjectocean
