Atoll remains of an ancient atoll as a hill in a limestone area is called a reef knoll. The second largest atoll by dry land area is Aldabra with 155 km². The largest atoll in terms of island numbers is Huvadhu Atoll in the south of the Maldives with 255 islands. In 1842, Charles Darwin explained the creation of coral atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean based upon observations made during a five-year voyage aboard from 1831 to 1836. Accepted as basically correct, his explanation involved considering that several tropical island types—from high volcanic island, through barrier reef island, to atoll—represented
Malé Atoll Malé Atoll Malé Atoll is a group of natural atolls in the Republic of Maldives. It consists of two separate atolls: North Malé Atoll and South Malé Atoll. Together with Kaashidhoo Island and Gaafaru, the group forms the administrative division of Malé Atoll which is referred to by its Thaana alphabet letter code name Kaafu Atoll. Malé, capital of the Maldives is geographically located at the southern end of North Malé atoll. The island together with the adjacent islands of Hulhule where the only international airport of the Maldives is located, the artificial island Hulhumalé and Villingili are administratively not