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Nauru is a small oval-shaped island in the western Pacific Ocean, located just 42 kilometers (26 mi.) south of the Equator. It is one of three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia.
Until recently Nauru's phosphate reserves were thought to be nearly depleted, but there are some indications that the potential for continued productive mining might exist. Phosphate mining in the central plateau has left a barren terrain of jagged, prehistoric coral pinnacles, up to 15 meters (49 ft.) high. A century of mining has stripped and devastated four-fifths of the total land area. Efforts to rehabilitate the mined-out areas have been unsuccessful.
The island is surrounded by a coral reef, exposed at low tide and dotted with pinnacles. The reef is bounded seaward by deep water, inside by a narrow sandy beach. A 150-300-meter (492-984 ft.) wide fertile coastal strip lies landward from the coast, ending in forested coral cliffs that rise to the now mined-out central plateau. The highest point of the plateau is 65 meters (213 ft.) above sea level.
The island's only fertile areas are within the narrow coastal belt, where there are coconut palms, pandanus trees, and indigenous hardwoods, and the land surrounding the inland Buada lagoon on the central plateau, where bananas, pineapples, and some vegetables are grown. Some secondary vegetation has begun to cover the scarred central plateau and its coral pinnacles.
The climate is tropical with a monsoonial rainy season from November to February. Nauru's only natural resources are phosphates, formed from guano deposits by seabirds over many thousands of years. Due to being surrounded by corals and sandy beaches, the island houses no natural harbours, nor any rivers or substantial lakes.
By: Shabina Sanad
GOWEALTHY.COM © 2008
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