Earth & Life. 3.77 Billion Years Under Construction | Olivia Judson | Escaped Sapiens #60
The Escaped Sapiens Podcast
Darwin and the Adaptation of Coral Reefs as Biogeology
From coral reefs to earthworms, this author's work reveals his fascination with biogeology. His first book explored the mystery of coral reefs and how they formed in the middle of the ocean. He theorized that they were built on top of submerged volcanoes and predicted that drilling into an atoll would reveal basalt. It wasn't until the 1940s and 50s that this theory was confirmed, thanks to nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands. The coral cap on the submerged volcano was estimated to be 250 cubic miles and showed that coral began growing over 50 million years ago. However, if subsidence happens too quickly, corals can't keep pace and the structures may disappear.
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