page_title: List of islands of Tuvalu
section_title: Royal Society of London investigation of the formation of coral reefs at Funafuti
hierarchical_section_title: List of islands of Tuvalu / Royal Society of London investigation of the formation of coral reefs at Funafuti
caption_attribution_description: English: Approaching the Funafuti atoll of Tuvalu. Русский: Вид на атолл Фунафути с океана (острова Тувалу).
context_page_description: Tuvalu consists of nine separate islands, six of which are atolls and three are reef islands. Since an atoll typically consists of several islets, there is a total of more than 124 islands and islets. Each island is surrounded by a coral reef. Tuvalu's small, scattered group of atolls have poor soil and a total land area of only about 26 square kilometres making it the fourth smallest country in the world. Over 4 decades, there had been a net increase in a land area of the islets of 73.5 ha, although the changes are not uniform, with 74% increasing and 27% decreasing in size. The sea level at the Funafuti tide gauge has risen at 3.9 mm per year. The rising sea levels are identified as creating an increased transfer of wave energy across reef surfaces, which shifts sand, resulting in accretion to island shorelines.
context_section_description: An expedition (Funafuti Coral Reef Boring Expedition of the Royal Society) under Professor William Sollas of Oxford University, conducted by the Royal Society of London carried out drilling on the coral reef at Funafuti in 1896, 1897 and 1898.
  HMS Penguin, under the command of Captain Arthur Mostyn Field, delivered the 1896 expedition to Funafuti  in the Ellice Islands, arriving on 21 May 1896, and returned to Sydney on 22 August 1896. From 1896 to 1899 the Penguin was under the command of Captain Arthur Mostyn Field and her surveying work included further voyages to Funafuti atoll to deliver the expeditions of the Royal Society in 1897 and 1898. The surveys carried out by the Penguin resulted in the preparation of the Admiralty Nautical Chart 2983 for the islands.
  The Royal Society of London were investigating the formation of coral reefs and whether traces of shallow-water organisms could be found at depth in the coral of Pacific atolls. Three expeditions used drilling equipment to take core samples of the coral reef. The boreholes on Fongafale islet are at the site now called Darwin's Drill, A goal of the expeditions was to drill down to confirm that the coral material was located on a base of volcanic rock. This investigation followed the work on the structure and distribution of coral reefs conducted by  Charles Darwin in the Pacific. However, the geologic history of atolls is more complex than Darwin (1842) and Davis (1928) envisioned.
caption: Coordinates: 8°19′S 179°08′E﻿ / ﻿8.31°S 179.13°E﻿ / -8.31; 179.13 (Funafuti)
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