| Mangrove swamps which are aquatic and terrestrial forests develop on tropical silt soil exposed to alternating tides. They are made up of various halophyte plants (capable of living on salty soil) and many mangroves and they cover almost a quarter of tropical coasts and 15 million hectares (half the original surface area). This fragile environment is continually regressing because of the overexploitation of resources, agricultural and urban expansion, the development of shrimp farms and pollution. Mangroves are still indispensable to marine life and to the balance of the coast as well as to the local economy. New Caledonia, a group of islands in the Pacific which is spread over 18 575 km2, has 200 km2 of mangrove that is quite low (8 to 10 m high) but very dense, especially on the Western coast of the largest island, Grande-Terre. Inland, where sea water only penetrates during Spring tides, vegetation is sometimes replaced by naked and over-salted stretches of land, like near Voh where nature has drawn this glade in the form of a heart. |
.&title2=Heart in Voh in 1990, New Caledonia (French Overseas Territory) (20°56’S, 164°39’E).&title3=Corazón de Voh en 1990, Nueva Caledonia, Francia. (20°57’ S - 164°41’ E). "download in wallpaper")
Add the gadget "Earth from above" to your iGoogle page and learn every day a new photo