The Granitic Seychelles are the islands in

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

which lie in central position on the

Seychelles Bank The Mascarene Plateau is a submarine plateau in the Indian Ocean, north and east of Madagascar. The plateau extends approximately , from Seychelles in the north to Réunion in the south. The plateau covers an area of over of shallow water, w ...

and are composed of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

rock. They make up the majority of the Inner Islands, which in addition include the

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

islands along of the rim of the Seychelles Bank, namely Bird Island and

Denis Island Denis Island is the second northeasternmost island in the Seychelles. It is north of Mahé and lies at the northern edge of the Seychelles bank, along with the nearby Bird Island, which is the northernmost Seychelles island. The coral island w ...

. The Granitic Seychelles contrast with the Coralline Seychelles or the Outer Islands, several island groups made up of low

islands with dry, infertile soils. The Granitic Seychelles are home to

tropical moist forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

, with several endemic species, including the

coco de mer Coco commonly refers to: * Coco (folklore), a mythical bogeyman in many Hispano- and Lusophone nations Coco may also refer to: People * Coco (given name), a first name, its shorthand, or unrelated nickname * Coco (surname), a list of people w ...

(''Lodoicea maldivica''), and the

jellyfish tree ''Medusagyne oppositifolia'', the jellyfish tree, is a species of tree endemism, endemic to the island of Mahé, Seychelles, Mahé, of the Seychelles. It is the only member of the genus ''Medusagyne'' of the tropical tree and shrub family Ochna ...

(''Medusagyne oppositifolia'').

Geography

Mahé is the largest and tallest island in Seychelles, at 145 square km and up to 905 m elevation. There are 42 granitic islands, in descending order of size: Mahé,

Praslin Praslin () is the second largest island (38.5 km2) of the Inner Seychelles, lying northeast of Mahé in the Somali Sea. Praslin has a population of around 7,533 people and comprises two administrative districts: Baie Sainte Anne and Gran ...

Silhouette A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...

La Digue La Digue is the third most populated island of the Seychelles, and fourth largest by land area, lying east of Praslin and west of Felicite Island. In size, it is the fourth-largest granitic island of Seychelles after Mahé, Praslin and Silhouette ...

Curieuse Curieuse Island is a small granitic island in the Seychelles close to the north coast of the island of Praslin. Curieuse is notable for its bare red earth intermingled with the unique coco de mer palms, one of the cultural icons of the Seychelles ...

, Félicité, Frégate, Ste. Anne,

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

Cerf Cerf or CERF may refer to: * CERF (Central Emergency Response Fund), a United Nations fund created to aid regions threatened by disaster * Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) * Cerf (surname) * Cerf Island, Seychelles * Cerf Islan ...

Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed in ...

, Grand Sœur, Thérèse, Aride, Conception, Petite Sœur,

Cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

, Cousine,

Long Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

, Récif, Round (Praslin), Anonyme, Mamelles, Moyenne,

Ile aux Vaches Marines Île aux Vaches Marines is one of many islands in the Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting ...

L'Islette L'Islette Island is an island in Seychelles, located 120 meters from the eastern coast of the island of Mahe, in the bay of Port Glaud. It is also near Thérèse Island which lies to its southwest and Petite Island which lies to its east. L'Isl ...

, Beacon (Ile Sèche), Cachée, Cocos, Round (Mahé), L'Ilot Frégate, Booby, Chauve Souris (Mahé), Chauve Souris (Praslin), Ile La Fouche, Hodoul, L'Ilot, Rat, Souris, St. Pierre (Praslin), Zavé, Harrison Rocks (Grand Rocher). The Granitic Seychelles are fragments of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, and have been separated from other continents for 75 million years. The Granitic Seychelles form the northernmost part of the

Mascarene Plateau The Mascarene Plateau is a submarine plateau in the Indian Ocean, north and east of Madagascar. The plateau extends approximately , from Seychelles in the north to Réunion in the south. The plateau covers an area of over of shallow water, wi ...

. There are

mafic A mafic mineral or rock is a silicate mineral or igneous rock rich in magnesium and iron. Most mafic minerals are dark in color, and common rock-forming mafic minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Common mafic rocks incl ...

xenolith A xenolith ("foreign rock") is a rock fragment ( country rock) that becomes enveloped in a larger rock during the latter's development and solidification. In geology, the term ''xenolith'' is almost exclusively used to describe inclusions in ig ...

intrusions in the granite in some areas.

Flora

The native vegetation of these islands consisted of palm, pandanus screw pines, and hardwood forest with mossy, ferny, cloud forest at higher elevations. The flora shows links with both Madagascar to the south and the African mainland to the west. Having been so isolated the islands are rich in endemic plant life including palm trees such as the

Fauna

The unique lizard and reptile populations of the Seychelles include seven species of

caecilian Caecilians (; ) are a group of limbless, vermiform or serpentine amphibians. They mostly live hidden in the ground and in stream substrates, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. Caecilians are mostly distributed in the tropics o ...

and the iconic giant tortoises, '' Dipsochelys arnoldi'' on the Granitic Seychelles, and '' Dipsochelys dussumieri'' on Aldabra. There have been some extinctions but the remaining endemic birds of these islands include the Seychelles scops owl (''Otus insularis'') and the

Seychelles paradise flycatcher The Seychelles paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone corvina'') is a rare bird from the genus of paradise flycatchers ('' Terpsiphone'') within the family Monarchidae. It is a forest-dwelling bird endemic to the Seychelles where it is native to the ...

(''Terpsiphone corvina'').

Threats and preservation

200 years of human settlement has seen the removal of much of the ancient habitat (including planting of coconut, vanilla and cinnamon), and the introduction of damaging invasive species. The Vallée de Mai on Praslin is the largest example of natural palm forest and is a World Heritage Site.

References

External link

* {{WWF ecoregion, name=Granitic Seychelles forests, id=at0113 Archipelagoes of Seychelles Afrotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of Seychelles Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests