Comoros - Marine Ecosystems of the Comoros Archipelago

Located in the Indian Ocean and the north of the Mozambique Channel, the waters that bathe the archipelago of the Comoros are characterized by a diversity of facies (rocky, sandy, muddy) and depths (from zero to several thousand meters) that have enabled the establishment, diversification and development of complex and original marine species and ecosystems. Uninterrupted volcanic activity, for about ten million years, leads to orogenesis-erosion interactions, the follow-up of which will better understand the setting up of many older volcanic archipelagos (Hawaii). These geological processes are complemented by a biological reef-building activity that contributes to the geomorphology of shorelines. The archipelago of the Comoros presents a succession of different stages of evolution of the volcano-reef relationship, as described in their fundamental work by the founders of evolutionary biology, Wallace and Darwin (fringing reef, barrier reef, lagoon, subsidence, etc.).