Definition
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are a remote group of islands, forming a single horseshoe-shaped atoll and an isolated island, North Keeling, in the eastern Indian Ocean. They represent the only atoll that Charles Darwin visited and became central to his theory of coral reef development, and have played a central role in several subsequent debates about reef development in relation to sea level.
Introduction
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are an Australian Territory in the eastern Indian Ocean, and comprise an atoll that has had a particularly significant place in the development of coral reef studies. This was the only coral atoll that Charles Darwin visited during the voyage of the Beagle, and it therefore played a particularly central role in his theory of reef development. It was subsequently visited by several other naturalists. The horseshoe-shaped atoll has a series of sandy reef islands around its rim and a central lagoon that is relatively well flushed during southeast...
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Woodroffe, C.D. (2011). Cocos (Keeling) Islands. In: Hopley, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_58
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