It was difficult to find a concrete topic to discuss as Maldives does not have any glaciers, arid landscapes, above water caves, or natural rivers. This seems to be the case because Maldives is a tropical with an elevation of 2.4 meters, thus there is no elevation gain for drainage paths to create fresh water rivers. Fresh water, rather is collected via rain fall and lays on top of a layer of saltwater that spreads through the limestone and corals of the atolls. These “lenses” of fresh water, however, are disappearing due to pollution produced by resorts and tourism. This is effecting flora on the atolls, such as mango trees, because of salt permeation. Coastal islands such as Maldives are a bridge between the lithosphere and hydrosphere in that the erosion caused by ocean waves repetitively hitting against the coastal limestone always creating and changing the coral reef habitats for flora and fauna. One of the more interesting underwater caverns in Maldives is called Kuredu. This cavern goes to a depth between 3 and 24 meters. What makes the Kuredu caves intriguing in that there is a community of green turtles. This is quite interesting with respect biogeography because sea turtles do not typically live in a community with one another. This seems to be the case because of the abundance of food and mechanisms to live hygienically. The walls and ceilings of the Kuredu caves are covered by soft coral and soldier fish. Other species that call the Kuredu caves home are sting rays, napoleons, porcupine fish, lion fish, moray eels, and scorpion fish. These underwater caverns take a extremely long time to form due to the fact that Maldives is an atoll/lagoon thus the current or wave pattern is not very strong. Thus the ocean seems very calm, and there is no strong rip current or undertow.

Kuredu Cave

http://maldivescomplete.com/blogs/maldivescomplete/archive/2011/02/08/best-of-the-maldives-caves-helengeli.aspx

Turtle airport. This picture displays the frequency of turtles around the Kuredo caves.

http://www.prodivers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Green-Sea-Turtle-Maldives.jpg

 Ritter, Michael E. The Physical Environment: an Introduction to Physical Geography.

Date visited.  http://www4.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/title_page.html

N/a, N/a. "Kuredu Caves." Maldives... the place to Dive. Prodivers, 2 11 2012. Web. 9 May 2013. <http://prodivers.com/kuredu-caves.asp&xgt;.

N/a, N/a. "Rivers and Drainage in the Maldives." Rivers and Drainage in the Maldives. The Geography Site, 13 1 2013. Web. 9 May 2013. <http://geography-site.co.uk/pages/countries/drainage/maldives_drainage.html>.