An atoll is a ring-shaped coral reef and features a lagoon. Some examples of atolls are the Bikini atoll, Tubbataha Reef and Lighthouse Reef.
An atoll is formed from a coral reef and sometimes receding land or a volcanic structure.
An atoll is formed first as a reef that fringes a volcanic island. As the island sinks (after the volcanic activity has ceased and the crust has cooled, becoming denser), the reef continues to build upward, eventually ending up as a ring-shaped structure.
Hard corals (Scleractinia) - reef-building corals that create calcium carbonate skeletons. Soft corals (Alcyonacea) - lack stony skeletons and have a flexible, fleshy appearance. Brain corals (Family: Mussidae) - named for their distinctive brain-like appearance. Staghorn corals (Genus: Acropora) - characterized by their branching, antler-like growth forms.
there is no reef, but there is a beach and lighthouse
atoll
kingman reef
A tropical lagoon is encircled by an atoll.
Bora Bora exemplifies what Charles Darwin called an "almost atoll," a barrier reef island formed by an oceanic volcano with a fringing coral reef. Over the course of the years, as the surrounding coral reef grows upward, the island with the volcano sinks.
Features of an atoll are: They thrive in warm tropical and subtropical waters. Most are found in the Pacific Ocean. They are products of the growth of topical sea organisms. They are usually round and formed around a lagoon.
A coral atoll.
an Atoll.