The Funafuti Boring

Abstract

WE are quite ready to admit that the evidence obtained at Funafuti does not prove that all atolls are formed by subsidence. A stationary volcanic bank, eroded down to the level at which reef-forming corals could begin to flourish, would serve as well for the basis of an atoll as a sinking island; this was well pointed out by the late Admiral Wharton. So, too, would a deeper bank which had been raised to a similar level by the raining down upon it of pelagic organisms, if it can be shown that such action is capable of producing any considerable thicknesses of rock. And there are other conceivable ways in which atolls may arise, as was fully admitted by Darwin in his correspondence with Semper.