Reef islands have continually adjusted to environmental change over the past two millennia

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Abstract

Global environmental change is identified as a driver of physical transformation of coral reef islands over the past half-century, and next 100 years, posing major adaptation challenges to island nations. Here we resolve whether these recent documented changes in islands are unprecedented compared with the pre-industrial era. We utilise radiometric dating, geological, and remote sensing techniques to document the dynamics of a Maldivian reef island at millennial to decadal timescales. Results show the magnitude of island change over the past half-century (±40 m movement) is not unprecedented compared with paleo-dynamic evidence that reveals large-scale changes in island dimension, shape, beach levels, as well as positional changes of ±200 m since island formation ~1,500 years ago. Results highlight the value of a multi-temporal methodological approach to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamic trajectories of reef islands, to support development of adaptation strategies at timeframes relevant to human security.

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Kench, P. S., Liang, C., Ford, M. R., Owen, S. D., Aslam, M., Ryan, E. J., … McLean, R. F. (2023). Reef islands have continually adjusted to environmental change over the past two millennia. Nature Communications, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36171-2

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