DOCSLIB.ORG

The Mid-Pleistocene to Holocene Evolution of the Maldives Carbonate Platform Paul, A

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Mid-Pleistocene to Holocene Evolution of the Maldives Carbonate Platform Paul, A VU Research Portal The Mid-Pleistocene to Holocene evolution of the Maldives carbonate platform Paul, A. 2014 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Paul, A. (2014). The Mid-Pleistocene to Holocene evolution of the Maldives carbonate platform. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. E-mail address: [email protected] Download date: 06. Oct. 2021 The Mid-Pleistocene to Holocene evolution of the Maldives carbonate platform Andreas Paul The research reported in this thesis was carried out at the VU University (Vrije Universiteit) Amsterdam in close collaboration with the University of Hamburg. ISBN: 978-94-6259-109-7 © 2014, Andreas Paul Contact: andreas.paul.phd (at) gmail.com Document prepared with LATEX 2ε and typeset by pdfTEX Printed by: Ipskamp Drukkers On the cover: Panoramic view from the upper deck of the German research vessel Meteor while entering the Malé atoll in order to record seismic data. A faint submerged atoll can be seen in the background. VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT The Mid-Pleistocene to Holocene evolution of the Maldives carbonate platform ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr. F.A. van der Duyn Schouten, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de Faculteit der Aard- en Levenswetenschappen op vrijdag 9 mei 2014 om 13.45 uur in de aula van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Andreas Paul geboren te Altenburg, Duitsland promotoren: prof.dr. J.J.G. Reijmer prof.dr. C. Betzler beoordelingscommissie: prof.dr. D. Kroon prof.dr. P.K. Swart dr. A. Brasier dr. F. Mienis dr. L. Reuning voor Pauli & meinen Eltern “We feel surprise when travelers tell us of the vast dimensions of the Pyramids and other great ruins, but how utterly insignificant are the greatest of these, when compared to these mountains of stone accumulated by the agency of various minute and tender animals!“ “We voelen ons overweldigd, als reizigers ons vertellen over de kolossale afmetingen van de piramiden en andere beduidende ruïnen. Maar hoe betekenisloos zijn deze ruïnes als zij worden vergeleken met deze stenen gebergten welke geaccumuleerd zijn door het werk van talrijke minuscule en fragiele diertjes!“ “Wir fühlen uns überwähltigt, wenn Reisende uns von den kolossalen Ausmaßen der Pyramiden und anderer bedeutender Ruinen erzählen. Aber wie vollkommen bedeutungslos sind diese Ruinen verglichen mit jenen steinernen Gebirgen, angehäuft durch die Arbeit von unzähligen winzigen und zerbrechlichen Tierchen!“ Charles Darwin, 1839 Contents Acknowledgements VII English Summaries XI Nederlandse Samenvattingen XVII Deutsche Zusammenfassungen XXIII Introduction 2 A brief overview of the Maldives ................... 2 Charles Darwin and his ideas on atoll formation .......... 4 The Maldives and the Indian Monsoon ............... 9 The geologic setting and development of the Maldives ...... 11 Aims and Objectives .......................... 15 1 The relationship between Late Pleistocene sea-level vari- ations, carbonate platform morphology and shallow- water carbonate production 22 1.1 Introduction ............................. 23 1.1.1 Highstand shedding ..................... 23 1.1.2 Sea-level history ....................... 23 1.1.3 Aims and Objectives .................... 25 1.2 Material and Methods ....................... 26 1.2.1 Planktonic stable oxygen isotopes ............ 26 1.2.2 Nannofossil biostratigraphy ................ 27 I Contents 1.2.3 Radiocarbon dating ..................... 27 1.2.4 X-ray diffraction ....................... 27 1.2.5 Grain-size analysis ...................... 28 1.2.6 Calcium carbonate content and organic carbon .... 28 1.2.7 Mass accumulation rates .................. 29 1.3 Results ................................ 30 1.3.1 Core description ....................... 30 1.3.2 Planktonic oxygen isotopes ................ 30 1.3.3 Nannofossil biostratigraphy and radiocarbon dating .. 30 1.3.4 Age model .......................... 31 1.3.5 Carbonate mineralogy ................... 33 1.3.6 Grain size distributions ................... 35 1.3.7 Calcium carbonate content and organic carbon .... 35 1.3.8 Mass accumulation rates .................. 36 1.4 Discussion .............................. 36 1.4.1 Origin of sedimentary components ............ 36 1.4.2 Flooding and exposure during the past 150,000 years . 40 1.4.3 Comparison with other carbonate platforms ...... 47 1.5 Conclusions ............................. 49 2 Rapid characterisation of carbonate peri-platform ooze using XRF scanning and multivariate statistics 54 2.1 Introduction ............................. 55 2.1.1 Pleistocene shallow-water carbonate facies ....... 55 2.1.2 Multivariate statistical analysis .............. 58 2.1.3 Aims and Objectives .................... 59 2.2 Material and Methods ....................... 59 2.2.1 X-ray fluorescence scanning ................ 60 2.3 Results ................................ 62 2.3.1 Core description ....................... 62 II Contents 2.3.2 Stratigraphy and Age model ................ 62 2.3.3 Proxy records ......................... 63 2.3.4 X-ray fluorescence scanning ................ 63 2.3.5 Element-to-Aragonite transfer function ......... 65 2.4 Multivariate statistical analyses ................. 68 2.4.1 Principal component analysis on full dataset (PCA 1) 70 2.4.2 Principal component analysis selected elements (PCA 2) 71 2.4.3 Sample scores......................... 73 2.5 Discussion.............................. 78 2.5.1 Significance of individual elemental counts in Maldivian peri-platform ooze ...................... 78 2.5.2 Characterisation of the Maldives depositional environ- ment using X-ray fluorescence and multivariate statistics 82 2.6 Conclusions............................. 85 3 The impact of current amplification on sedimentation processes at slopes of the Inner Sea 88 3.1 Introduction............................. 89 3.2 Material and Methods....................... 90 3.2.1 Parasound echo sounding................. 90 3.2.2 Sediment cores and analyses................ 91 3.3 Results................................ 91 3.3.1 Parasound echo sounding................. 91 3.3.2 Sedimentary record of the Ari core (M74/4-1150)... 93 3.3.3 Core-to-seismic tie and stratigraphy ........... 99 3.4 Discussion .............................. 103 3.4.1 Late Pleistocene sequence stratigraphy ......... 103 3.4.2 Glacial-Interglacial variability on the Maldives carbonate platform ............................ 106 3.5 Conclusions ............................. 110 III Contents 4 Late Pleistocene sedimentation patterns within the Inner Sea 114 4.1 Introduction............................. 115 4.2 Material and Methods....................... 116 4.3 Results................................ 118 4.3.1 Core description....................... 118 4.3.2 Biostratigraphy....................... 118 4.3.3 Age model and sedimentation rates ........... 120 4.3.4 Proxy records ......................... 121 4.3.5 Comparison with toe-of-slope cores ............ 122 4.4 Discussion .............................. 124 4.4.1 Sedimentation patterns within the Inner Sea of the Mal- dives carbonate platform .................. 124 4.5 Conclusions ............................. 129 Concluding Remarks 134 Morphology ................................ 134 Sediments ................................. 134 The Maldives vs. Great Bahama Bank ............... 135 A glimpse into the future ........................ 135 References 140 List of Figures 160 List of Tables 164 About the Author 166 IV Acknowledgements This thesis is the result of the cooperation between the department of Sedimentology and Marine Geology at the VU University Amsterdam and the Geological and Palaeontological Institute at the University of Hamburg, under supervision of Prof.Dr. John Reijmer (Amsterdam) and Prof.Dr. Christian Betzler (Hamburg), and a lot more people involved over the course of the years. John, heel erg bedankt voor alle geduld, je voortdurende ondersteuning, jouw ideeën, enthousiasme en je (terecht)wijze(nde) woorden gedurende de bijna 6 1/2 jaar dat ik, door en door ’Ossi’, onder jouw begeleiding deze thesis mocht schrijven. Zonder jouw vertrouwen zou dit boek nooit naar de drukker zijn gegaan. Dank je wel! Christian, herzlichen Dank für die Leitung der Forschungsfahrt mit der Meteor, die Unterstützung und die vielen Tips während der vielen Besuche in Hamburg und der Projekt-Besprechungen. I would like to thank the reading committee for taking the time to read the thesis thoroughly and for the resulting suggestions which considerably improved the quality of this book. My sincerest thanks goes to
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ocean Horizons: Strengthening Maritime Security in Indo-Pacific
    SPECIAL REPORT Ocean horizons Strengthening maritime security in Indo-Pacific island states Anthony Bergin, David Brewster and Aakriti Bachhawat December 2019 About the authors Anthony Bergin is a senior fellow at ASPI, where he was previously research director and deputy director. He was an academic at the Royal Australian Naval College and for 20 years was on the academic staff at the Australian Defence Force Academy, where he taught maritime affairs and homeland security. From 1991 to 2003, he was the director of the Australian Defence Studies Centre. He served for four years as an adjunct reader in law at the Australian National University (ANU) and for two years as a senior research fellow at the National Security College. Anthony has been a consultant to a wide range of public and private sector clients and has written extensively on Pacific security issues in academic journals, books and reports. He is a regular media commentator and contributes to ASPI’s analysis and commentary site, The Strategist. David Brewster is a senior research fellow with the National Security College, ANU, where he works on Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific maritime security. His current research focuses on island states, environmental security and China’s military presence in the Indian Ocean. David’s books include India as an Asia Pacific power and India’s ocean: the story of India’s bid for regional leadership. His latest edited book is India and China at sea: competition for naval dominance in the Indian Ocean, which examines maritime security interactions between those countries. David is the author of a recent report for the French Institute of International Relations, Between giants: the Sino-Indian cold war in the Indian Ocean.
    [Show full text]
  • Coral Reef & Whale Shark
    EXPEDITION REPORT Expedition dates: 15 – 29 July 2017 Report published: July 2018 Little and large: surveying and safeguarding coral reefs & whale sharks in the Maldives EXPEDITION REPORT Little and large: surveying and safeguarding coral reefs & whale sharks in the Maldives Expedition dates: 15 – 29 July 2017 Report published: July 2018 Authors: Jean-Luc Solandt Marine Conservation Society & Reef Check Co-ordinator Maldives Matthias Hammer (editor) Biosphere Expeditions 1 © Biosphere Expeditions, a not-for-profit conservation organisation registered in Australia, England, France, Germany, Ireland, USA Member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum Member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Abstract Two weeks of coral reef surveys were carried out in July 2017 by Biosphere Expeditions in Ari, South Male’, Felidhu and Mulaku atolls, Maldives. The surveys were undertaken by Maldivian placement recipients, fee-paying volunteer citizen scientists from around the world and staff from Biosphere Expeditions. Surveys using the Reef Check methodology concentrated on re-visiting permanent monitoring sites that have been surveyed in Ari atoll, central Maldives, since 2005 for some sites, and every other year since 2011. The surveys were carried out 14 months after the El Niño coral bleaching event in 2016. Coral cover for all North Ari sites combined varied between 52% and 0% with a mean of 21% cover. Inner Ari atoll reefs (mean 4% cover) have been more severely affected by bleaching than the outer reef sites (mean 37%) over this 14-month timeframe. Some inner reefs (e.g. Kudafalhu), which had previously been affected by coral-damaging storms in 2015, Crown-of-Thorns infestations and bleaching in 2016, had extremely low coral cover (under 2%).
    [Show full text]
  • Cowry Shell Money and Monsoon Trade: the Maldives in Past Globalizations
    Cowry Shell Money and Monsoon Trade: The Maldives in Past Globalizations Mirani Litster Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Australian National University 2016 To the best of my knowledge the research presented in this thesis is my own except where the work of others has been acknowledged. This thesis has not previously been submitted in any form for any other degree at this or any other university. Mirani Litster -CONTENTS- Contents Abstract xv Acknowledgements xvi Chapter One — Introduction and Scope 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 An Early Global Commodity: Cowry Shell Money 4 1.2.1 Extraction in the Maldives 6 1.2.2 China 8 1.2.3 India 9 1.2.4 Mainland Southeast Asia 9 1.2.5 West and East Africa 10 1.3 Previous Perspectives and Frameworks: The Indian Ocean 11 and Early Globalization 1.4 Research Aims 13 1.5 Research Background and Methodology 15 1.6 Thesis Structure 16 Chapter Two — Past Globalizations: Defining Concepts and 18 Theories 2.1 Introduction 18 2.2 Defining Globalization 19 2.3 Theories of Globalization 21 2.3.1 World Systems Theory 21 2.3.2 Theories of Global Capitalism 24 2.3.3 The Network Society 25 2.3.4 Transnationality and Transnationalism 26 2.3.5 Cultural Theories of Globalization 26 2.4 Past Globalizations and Archaeology 27 2.4.1 Globalization in the Past: Varied Approaches 28 i -CONTENTS- 2.4.2 Identifying Past Globalizations in the Archaeological 30 Record 2.5 Summary 32 Chapter Three — Periods of Indian Ocean Interaction 33 3.1 Introduction 33 3.2 Defining the Physical Parameters 34 3.2.1
    [Show full text]
  • Oceanic Manta Ray |Summary Report 2019
    Maldivian Manta Ray Project Oceanic Manta Ray | Summary Report 2019 Conservation through research, education, and colloboration - The Manta Trust www.mantatrust.org The Manta Trust is a UK and US-registered charity, formed in 2011 to co-ordinate global research and conservation efforts WHO ARE THE around manta rays. Our vision is a world where manta rays and their relatives thrive within a globally healthy marine ecosystem. MANTA TRUST? The Manta Trust takes a multidisciplinary approach to conservation. We focus on conducting robust research to inform important marine management decisions. With a network of over 20 projects worldwide, we specialise in collaborating with multiple parties to drive conservation as a collective; from NGOs and governments, to businesses and local communities. Finally, we place considerable effort into raising awareness of the threats facing mantas, and educating people about the solutions needed to conserve these animals and the wider underwater world. Conservation through research, education and collaboration; an approach that will allow the Manta Trust to deliver a globally sustainable future for manta rays, their relatives, and the wider marine environment. Formed in 2005, the Maldivian Manta Ray Project (MMRP) is the founding project of the Manta Trust. It consists of a country- wide network of dive instructors, biologists, communities and MALDIVIAN MANTA tourism operators, with roughly a dozen MMRP staff based RAY PROJECT across a handful of atolls. The MMRP collects data around the country’s manta population, its movements, and how the environment and tourism / human interactions affect them. Since its inception, the MMRP has identified over 4,650 different individual reef manta rays, from more than 60,000 photo-ID sightings.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dhivehi Language. a Descriptive and Historical Grammar of Maldivian and Its Dialects“ Von Sonja Fritz (2002)
    Achtung! Dies ist eine Internet-Sonderausgabe des Buchs „The Dhivehi Language. A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of Maldivian and Its Dialects“ von Sonja Fritz (2002). Sie sollte nicht zitiert werden. Zitate sind der Originalausgabe zu entnehmen, die als Beiträge zur Südasienforschung, 191 erschienen ist (Würzburg: Ergon Verlag 2002 / Heidelberg: Südasien-Institut). Attention! This is a special internet edition of the book “ The Dhivehi Language. A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of Maldivian and Its Dialects ” by Sonja Fritz (2002). It should not be quoted as such. For quotations, please refer to the original edition which appeared as Beiträge zur Südasienforschung, 191 (Würzburg: Ergon Verlag 2002 / Heidelberg: Südasien-Institut). Alle Rechte vorbehalten / All rights reserved: Sonja Fritz, Frankfurt 2012 37 The Dhivehi Language A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of Maldivian and Its Dialects by Sonja Fritz Heidelberg 2002 For Jost in love Preface This book represents a revised and enlarged English version of my habilitation thesis “Deskriptive Grammatik des Maledivischen (Dhivehi) und seiner Dialekte unter Berücksichtigung der sprachhistorischen Entwicklung” which I delivered in Heidelberg, 1997. I started my work on Dhivehi (Maldivian) in 1988 when I had the opportunity to make some tape recordings with native speakers during a private stay in the Maldives. Shortly after, when I became aware of the fact that there were almost no preliminary studies of a scientific character on the Maldivian language and literature and, particularly, no systematic linguistic studies at all, I started to collect material for an extensive grammatical description of the Dhivehi language. In 1992, I went to the Maldives again in order to continue my work with informants and to make official contact with the corresponding institutions in M¯ale, whom I asked to help me in planning my future field research.
    [Show full text]
  • Plastic Waste
    Public Disclosure Authorized South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP) Plastic free Rivers and Seas for South Asia Public Disclosure Authorized (P171269) Public Disclosure Authorized ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ASSESSMENT (ESA) Public Disclosure Authorized 26 February 2020 Draft Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA) Plastic-free Rivers and Seas for South Asia Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 6 1 PROJECT INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Regional, Sectoral and Institutional Contexts ........................................................... 1 1.2 Project Development Objective ................................................................................... 4 1.3 Project Components ..................................................................................................... 5 1.3.1 Component 1: Regional Competitive Block Grants to Reduce Plastic Waste ........................... 5 1.3.2 Component 2: Leveraging Private Sector Engagement and Solutions ..................................... 7 1.3.3 Component 3: Promoting Educational Partnerships, Awareness, and Behavioral Change ...... 8 1.3.4 Component 4: Strengthening Regional Integration and Project Management .......................... 9 1.4 Project Beneficiaries ..................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Marine Litter in the South Asian Seas Region
    ACEP outh Asia Co-operative Environment Programme _ I , v..t South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme Marine Litter in the South Asian Seas Region Part-1: Review of Marine Litter in the SAS Region Part-2: Framework for Marine Litter Management in the SAS Region A Report by the South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme Colombo, September 2007 Copyright © 2007, South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme or the United Nations Environment Programme concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Moreover, the views expressed do not necessarily represent the decision or the stated policy of the South Asia Co- operative Environment Programme or United Nations Environment Programme, nor does citing of trade names or commercial processes constitute endorsement. The preparation of this report was financed by United Nations Environment Programme This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source.
    [Show full text]
  • Status of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Management in South Asia Status of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Management in South Asia
    REVIEW PAPER REVIEW PAPER: STATUS OF COASTAL AND MARINE ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH ASIA MANAGEMENT ECOSYSTEM AND MARINE OF COASTAL STATUS REVIEW PAPER: STATUS OF COASTAL AND MARINE ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH ASIA United Nations Development Programme 55, Lodi Estate New Delhi - 110003 India Email: [email protected] Copyright © 2012 United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Asia and Pacific, Thailand and the United Nations Development Programme, India. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations, including UNDP, UNISDR and their member states. Suggested citation: UNISDR/UNDP (2012). Review Paper – Status of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Management in South Asia. Inputs of the South Asian Consultative Workshop on “ Integration of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation into Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management of Coastal and Marine Areas in South Asia” held in New Delhi on 6 and 7 March 2012. New Delhi: UNDP. 173 pages. Cover photographs: Sriyanie Miththapala; Shashank Jayaprasad/UNDP India Inside photographs: Sriyanie Miththapala; Shashank Jayaprasad/UNDP India; Tom Pietrasik/UNDP India; Benoit Marquet/UNDP India REVIEW PAPER STATUS OF COASTAL AND MARINE ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH ASIA Prepared by: Vishwas Sawarkar, Sriyanie Miththapala, Pramod Krishnan, Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu and C. Sasikumar Review Paper: Status of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Management in South Asia Acknowledgements The Review Paper is a joint effort by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) Asia Pacific Secretariat.
    [Show full text]
  • Response of Tidal Flow Regime and Sediment Transport in North Male
    https://doi.org/10.5194/os-2020-80 Preprint. Discussion started: 7 September 2020 c Author(s) 2020. CC BY 4.0 License. Response of tidal flow regime and sediment transport in North Male’ Atoll, Maldives to coastal modification and sea level rise Shuaib Rasheed 1, Simon C. Warder 1, Yves Plancherel 1,2, and Matthew D. Piggott 1 1Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, UK 2Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, UK Correspondence: Shuaib Rasheed ([email protected]) Abstract. Changes to coastlines and bathymetry alter tidal dynamics and associated sediment transport process, impacting upon a number of threats facing coastal regions, including flood risk and erosion. Especially vulnerable are coral atolls such as those that make up the Maldives archipelago which has undergone significant land reclamation in recent years and decades, and is also particularly exposed to sea level rise. Here we develop a tidal model of Male’ Atoll, Maldives, and use it to assess 5 potential changes to sediment grain size distributions under sea level rise and coastline alteration scenarios. The results indicate that the impact of coastline modification over the last two decades at the island scale is not limited to the immediate vicinity of the modified island, but can also significantly impact the sediment grain size distribution across the wider atoll basin. Additionally, the degree of change in sediment distribution which can be associated with sea level rise that is projected to occur over relatively long time periods is predicted to occur over far shorter time periods with coastline changes, highlighting the 10 need to better understand, predict and mitigate the impact of land reclamation and other coastal modifications before conducting such activities.
    [Show full text]
  • An Archaeological Study of the Maldive Islands
    An Archaeological Study of the Maldive Islands: Investigating the Islamic Period Settlements Shiura Jaufar Doctor of Philosophy University of East Anglia 2019 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognize that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived therefrom must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract This thesis presents an archaeological investigation of the remote Indian Ocean islands of the Maldives during the medieval Islamic period, through the excavation of three selected sites. The importance of the Maldives in medieval Indian Ocean trade networks, due to their geographical position at a crucial transit point and their exportation of cowry shell money (Monetaria moneta), is well known. However, these islands have received limited archaeological research, and that has focused largely on the pre-Islamic period. An archaeological study is important because the existing historical sources are on the whole relatively late and there has been a tendency to extrapolate them uncritically to earlier periods. Moreover, the Maldivian archaeological heritage faces various threats from development and environmental issues. Therefore, with the aim of documenting heritage at risk and filling some of the existing gaps in knowledge, the research is underpinned by four objectives: (1) investigating the landscape history and archaeology of the Islamic period in the Maldives; (2) creating a detailed typology of the pottery excavated; (3) examining the extent of intra-regional differences in the material culture; and, (4) shifting the focus away from the capital Male’ towards the poorly studied rural islands.
    [Show full text]
  • Mangroves of the Atolls of the Maldives, Rich Among the Atoll Groups of the Indian Ocean
    ISSN 1880-7682 Volume 16, No. 3 May 2018 ISME/GLOMIS Electronic Journal An electronic journal dedicated to enhance public awareness on the importance of mangrove ecosystems _________________________________________________________________________________ Mangroves of the atolls of the Maldives, rich among the atoll groups of the Indian Ocean K. Sivakumar1*, A. Rilwan2, K. Priyanka1, M. Salah1 & K. Kathiresan1 1 CAS in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University, India. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Bluepeace, Male - 20287, Maldives Background The Maldives islands are located in the Indian Ocean about 480 km south-west of Cape Comorin, India, and 650 km south-west of Sri Lanka. Mangrove diversity of the atolls of the Maldives is impressive when the other atolls of the Indian Ocean are considered, as they support 15 mangrove plant species among the 17 species reported from the Indian Ocean atoll islands. Thus, the atolls of the Maldives are richer in the diversity of mangroves compared to other atolls of the Indian Ocean. Figure 1 shows the rich and luxuriant mangroves of Thakafathi-filadhoo, Maldives. Figure 1 Aerial view of mangroves at Thakafathi-filadhoo, Maldives (Photo credit: Bluepeace) ISME/GLOMIS Electronic Journal (ISSN 1880-7682) is published by International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME). Available on-line at http://www.glomis.com. Headquarters: c/o Faculty of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa, 903-0129 Japan. 11 ISSN 1880-7682 Volume 16, No. 3 May 2018 Species found in the mangroves of Maldives are Acrostichum aureum (fern), Avicennia marina, Bruguiera cylindrica, Bruguiera gymnorhiza, Bruguiera sexangula, Ceriops tagal, Derris trifoliata (climber), Excoecaria agallocha, Heritiera littoralis, Lumnitzera racemosa, Pemphis acidula, Rhizophora apiculata, Rhizophora mucronata, Sonneratia caseolaris and Xylocarpus moluccensis (Jagtap & Untawale, 1999; Ahmed & Aminath, 2003; Kathiresan & Rajendran, 2005; Bluepeace, 2007; UNICEF, 2008; Spalding et.
    [Show full text]
  • Scleractinia Corals of Baa Atoll (Maldives): First Checklist and Overview of Stony Corals Community Structure
    SCLERACTINIA CORALS OF BAA ATOLL (MALDIVES): FIRST CHECKLIST AND OVERVIEW OF STONY CORALS COMMUNITY STRUCTURE BY LIONEL BIGOT1 AND HANI AMIR2 ABSTRACT A survey of scleractinian corals for 21 stations in Baa Atoll (Republic of Maldives) was conducted in June 2009. The goal of the survey was to i) compile for the first time for this atoll a scleractinian coral check-list, ii) estimate the atoll total richness, iii) estimate intra-atoll richness variation and iv) describe preliminary patterns of community structure according to geomorphology and location criteria. The survey was stratified by the main reef geomorphological units. A total of 173 species of scleractinia belonging to 49 genera were recorded, including several species new to Maldives. Conversely, a number of species of genera quite common in the Indian Ocean were absent of the list of Pocilloporidae. Average richness per station was nearly 60 species. Richness ratio between slopes and flats/tops were between 3 and 1.3, with an average of 2.1, highlighting richer slopes than flats and tops. Differences of community composition between geomorphologic strata and between oceanic/lagoonal reefs were significant. Central lagoonal reefs provided highest richness, and highest coral cover as well. These findings are critical to plan for the conservation of Baa Atoll biodiversity. INTRODUCTION Historically, the Pillai and Scheer (1976) study provided the first Maldivian checklist of stony corals, from samples collected in 1957 and 1958 during the “Xarifa expedition” (Wallace and Zahir, 2007). The second significant contribution was the coral list proposed by Sheppard (1987) as a compilation of scleractinian species for various areas of Indian Ocean, including coral fauna of the Maldives.
    [Show full text]