Mo'orea

I've been reading The Fragile Edge by Julia Whitty recently and she talks about Mo'orea and the fact that it is between 1.2 million and 2.5 million years old and was in it's prime, a towering island of 10,000 plus feet and has been slowly slipping back into the ocean, and now sits with a maximum elevation of just over 4,000 feet.

The island was formed as a result of a geologic hotspot in the mantle under the oceanic plate that formed the whole of the Society Archipelago.

But I guess what crossed my mind is the fact that these islands are all slowly slipping away to become atolls or perhaps, if the coral problems continue and no barrier reef is formed around the island, a flat topped Guyot.

A guyot, also known as a tablemount, is a flat-topped seamount. Guyots are most commonly found in the Pacific Ocean.

Guyots show evidence of having been above the surface with gradual subsidence through stages from fringed reefed mountain, coral atoll, and finally a flat topped submerged mountain.

I highly recommend the book. Very interesting.