SSC MTS EXAM

Detailed explanation-1: -An atoll is a ring-shaped coral reef, island, or series of islets. An atoll surrounds a body of water called a lagoon. Sometimes, atolls and lagoons protect a central island. Channels between islets connect a lagoon to the open ocean or sea.

Detailed explanation-2: -As the reef expands, the interior island usually begins to subside and the fringing reef turns into a barrier reef. When the island completely subsides beneath the water leaving a ring of growing coral with an open lagoon in its center, it is called an atoll.

Detailed explanation-3: -An atoll is a roughly circular (annular) oceanic reef system surrounding a large (and often deep) central lagoon. Examples of this reef type are common in French Polynesia, the Caroline and Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and the Cook Islands.

Detailed explanation-4: -The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu (Dhivehi: , [ˈat̪oɭu]), Dhivehi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Maldives. The word’s first recorded English use was in 1625 as atollon. Charles Darwin coined the term in his monograph, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs.