|Grains of Sand| |Written by Kathleen Wood| |Thursday, 20
January 2011 09:46| “In every outthrust headland, in curving
beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the Earth.”
As algae absorb carbon dioxide from the water for
photosynthesis, dissolved calcium combines with carbonic acid to
form calcium carbonate, the primary constituent of TCI’s
limestone sands. In the tropical and subtropical waters
surrounding the TCI, calcium carbonate is the mineral upon which
the biological structure of marine ecology builds. From it, tiny
corals form the skeletal structures that over time frame the
great fringing reefs. Lobsters and crabs manufacture their
protective exoskeletons. Conch, clams and other mollusks create
their intricate shells, and algae craft rigid formations. Over
time, organisms die and their delicately crafted structures
crumble like a fine misty rain onto the ocean floor. The TCI are
a country made of sand, perched above the tides on a limestone
oceanic platform that formed underwater over hun