As human-caused climate change remakes the world's coastlines, these fossil relics from Earth's past are helping scientists understand how future sea level rise could unfold.
But the most worrying lesson from this research may lie in the differences between the time of the corals and today. Researchers warn that the warming brought about by human-generated greenhouse gas emissions is unlike anything that has previously happened in the Earth's history. That means modern sea level rise may not exactly mirror what happened last time - it might be worse.
In all the world, there are no islands like the Seychelles. Most oceanic islands are volcanic, formed by magma that wells up as tectonic plates drift over hot spots in the Earth's mantle. Others are coral atolls - low-lying, ring-shaped landforms created when sea level drops below the surface of a reef.
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