science

Granitic Seychelles

Granitic Seychelles is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Granitic Seychelles rather than just read about it. In short: The Granitic Seychelles are the islands in Seychelles which lie in central position on the Seychelles Bank and are composed of granite rock. They make up the majority of the Inner Islands, which in addition include the coral islands along of the rim of the Seychelles Bank, namely Bird Island and Denis Island.

Key takeaways

Granitic Seychelles belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Granitic Seychelles to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Granitic Seychelles from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Granitic Seychelles are the islands in Seychelles which lie in central position on the Seychelles Bank and are composed of granite rock. They make up the majority of the Inner Islands, which in addition include the coral islands along of the rim of the Seychelles Bank, namely Bird Island and Denis Island. The Granitic Seychelles contrast with the Coralline Seychelles or the Outer Islands, several island groups made up of low coral islands with dry, infertile soils. The Granitic Seychelles are home to tropical moist forests, with several endemic species, including the coco de mer (Lodoicea maldivica), and the jellyfish tree (Medusagyne oppositifolia).

Geography Mahé is the largest and tallest island in Seychelles, at 145 square km and up to 905 m elevation. There are 43 granitic islands, in descending order of size: Mahé, Praslin, Silhouette, La Digue, Curieuse, Félicité, Frégate, Ste. Anne, North, Cerf, Marianne, Grand Sœur, Thérèse, Aride, Conception, Petite Sœur, Cousin, Cousine, Long, Récif, Round (Praslin), Anonyme, Mamelles, Moyenne, Ile aux Vaches Marines, L'Islette, 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 submarine Mascarene Plateau. There are mafic xenolith intrusions in the granite in some areas.

Climate The archipelago is about 5 degrees south of the equator, and has a humid tropical climate with little seasonal variation in temperature. Average annual rainfall varies with elevation, and exposure, ranging from 2,300 to 5,000 mm. There are heavy monsoon rains in the summer (November to February). Trade winds blow steadily from the southeast during the cooler months.

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 coco de mer. The Granitic Seychelles have a relatively low number of flowering plant species, but a high rate of endemism. Approximately 268 flowering plant species are native to the island, in 216 genera. 28% of the species are endemic, with at least 13 endemic genera, of which most are monospecific. Endemic genera include Deckenia, Glionnetia, Lodoicea, Medusagyne, Nephrosperma, Northia, Paragenipa, Phoenicophorium, Protarum, Roscheria, Seychellea, Vateriopsis, and Xyroschoenus. 35% of flowering plant species are endangered.

Fauna The unique lizard and reptile populations of the Seychelles include seven species of caecilian and the iconic giant tortoises, Aldabrachelys gigantea 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 (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 links "Granitic Seychelles forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Granitic Seychelles

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Granitic Seychelles claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Granitic Seychelles before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Granitic Seychelles ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Granitic Seychelles

In research: Granitic Seychelles appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Granitic Seychelles in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Granitic Seychelles is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Afrotropical ecoregions, Archipelagoes of Seychelles, Ecoregions of Seychelles, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Granitic Seychelles outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Granitic Seychelles in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Granitic Seychelles means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Granitic Seychelles out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Granitic Seychelles in simple terms?

Why does Granitic Seychelles matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Granitic Seychelles?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Granitic Seychelles.