Of white sands and ISLAND COUSINS

The Maldives and Lakshadweep share a natural history and owe their beaches to the same fish that munch on coral

- Pranay Lal

We are standing on a beach rather unique to these islands. How this sand was created is a remarkable story, and quite different from what we left back home. Most beach sand of continents is quartz and feldspar rich, formed by the degradation of ancient rocks like granite and quartzite. The beach sand here in the Maldives is white, powdery and vastly different from what's found on continents. So how did this island beach come to be? Until 88 million years ago, the eastern margin of Madagascar was melded to India's west coast. An abrupt volcanic event tore Madagascar from India and broke off a small triangular piece from its north to create what we now know as Seychelles.

About 20 million years ago, when India drifted 900km away from Madagascar, another volcanic event was triggered under the sea. This created Reunion Island, which is now roughly 3,300km south-south-west from the Maldives as the albatross flies. This event marked the first of three episodes of what geologists label the "Deccan volcanic event", which created Mumbai and Pune with its dramatic layered-cake plateaus.

The volcanoes under the sea pushed the Indian plate further east. When India reached the spot where Chagos Islands (a corrupted version of the Portuguese word for chaos) are today, it tripped on another weak spot in the crust under the ocean, causing more lava to flow into the ocean.

The roiling lava cooled in the presence of water and formed funnel-shaped structures that emerged from the sea. Each of these dark grey basalt cone-like structures spewed smoke and gas, and often lava. As India migrated northwards, volcanoes popped up and created a near-straight underwater ridge. This ridge, the 73 East Ridge, about 1,200km south of the Maldives, starts with Chagos Islands and ends with the Lakshadweep Islands (about 900km north of the Maldives).