Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01389:body:0:p52
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01389
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 151675–154555

Provisions) Act 1999 defines the purposes of the park as:
   (a)        the preservation of the area in its natural condition
   (b)        the encouragement and regulation of the appropriate use, appreciation and enjoyment of the area by the public.
Such purposes are generally consistent with Australian International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) category II (national park), which generally allows frequent but sustainable visitor access and recreational activities. The 1995 declaration of the reserve indicated that the North Keeling Island and its surrounding marine waters should be managed as a wilderness zone in recognition that the natural and cultural values of the park can easily be impacted by visitors and their activities.
The EPBC Act requires this management plan to assign the park to an Australian IUCN category. Under this plan, the terrestrial and lagoon components of the park have been assigned Australian IUCN category Ia (strict nature reserve) in keeping with the original intention of the proclamation of the park. See also Section 2, IUCN category.
As an IUCN strict nature reserve, the park's land area is primarily managed for scientific research and environmental monitoring, and to preserve its habitats, ecosystems and native species in as undisturbed a state as possible. However, the presence of a significant bird breeding area, a historic shipwreck and relatively pristine marine and terrestrial ecosystems provides unique and exclusive wilderness experience opportunities for a limited number of visitors, such as special interest groups intending to birdwatch or scuba dive, or educational groups.

The natural environment and ecology of Pulu Keeling National Park
Geology
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands consist of two separate coral atolls, 24 kilometres apart, which have formed atop an old volcanic seamount that rises from a depth of 5,000 metres in the north-eastern Indian Ocean.
Over the last 100 million years the Indo-Australian plate has moved steadily north towards the Java Trench. As it has done so, it has passed over a 'hot spot', or plume rising from deep in the mantle, producing a chain of seamounts with a south-west to north-east trend. Bathymetric research shows that the atolls' foundations are actually two of a series of undersea features known as the Vening-Meinesz Seamounts. This range of mountains also includes Christmas Island and extends in a north-easterly direction from a prominent seafloor feature of the Indian Ocean known as the Ninetyeast Ridge. The atolls of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are two peaks in a section of the range known as the Cocos Rise (Jongsma 1976).
Sediments on the Cocos Rise are very thin (100 metres to 200 metres thick) and no mineralisation or accumulation of petroleum has occurred (Jongsma 1976). The thickness of the corals underlying Cocos is not known, but the