I
Is the Palm Jumeirah man made? It is more accurately thought of as an island that has been shaped like a city. In fact, some reports suggest the construction of the Palm islands has caused the area’s
changes in the stratigraphic plane are responsible for the island’s current shape. The latest spots
are the tip of the iceberg. Digging down into the earth, layers upon layers of sand and rocks were piled up in an attempt to create the perfect palm. Each rock was quarried individually, but since the sand is so thick it took a team of four to build the entire structure. In fact, some reports suggested the construction of the Palm islands has caused the ground to fracture beneath them. More than 5.5 million people live on the Palm Jumeirah.
Nakheel, the government-owned developer behind the project, expects
Palm Jumeirah is different from most islands in that it is not a beachfront destination but rather a mix of residential, leisure and entertainment facilities. Among the notable features on Palm Jumeirah are the Atlantis Hotel, the world’s largest man-made island, the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, the first luxurious residential property on the mainland, and the Atlantis Bluewaters, the largest man-made breakwater in the world.
The Atlantis Hotel, the largest hotel on the island, was built on its own artificial island. It boasts a sprawling first floor garden, which is the size of a city street. Another second floor will house restaurants, retail stores and a large swimming pool.
Is the Palm Jumeirah man made?
Yes. It is made of sand dredged from the bottom of the Persian Gulf. A fleet of dredging ships shoots the sand into place, before it is rolled out into the sea. A Vibro-compaction technique is used to prepare the sand for sea-cleaning. A 700-bed posh hotel is built on the crescent, and about 100 workers live on the fronds. The hotel is almost as tall as the Empire State Building. A metro stops near the hotel, and commuters use the escalator to get to the second floor. At the top of the crescent, a water theme park is built on the other side of the crescent. A final touch is a fleet of sand dredging ships, which move the sand to finish the job. A total of 28 sea caves were made to make the staircase to the second floor.
The construction of the Palm islands along the coast of Dubai has had a significant impact on the marine environment, threatening marine species survival, and exacerbating environmental damage. Rocks and sand buried oyster beds and coral reefs, altered wave patterns, and other patterns of disturbance have resulted in the loss of numbers of shore bird species, including songbirds. Ecologically sensitive species of fish, including blue and fin, have been affected by decreased food availability due to overharvesting and insufficient food above the water. Oyster beds have been covered in as much as two inches of sediment, while coral reefs and vegetated coastal marine fauna have been severely disturbed.
Damage to marine flora and fauna (e.g.
