Mayotte
- ISS007-E-14342
- 04 September 2003
- 09:27 UTC
The island-barrier reef complex of Mayotte (also referred to as Mahoré) is the most southeasterly of the Comoros group, being located 295 km off the northwest coast of Madagascar and 59 km southeast from the island of Nzwani. The island is an overseas collectivity (collectivité d'outre-mer) of France.
Geologically the oldest of the Comoros islands, Mayotte is an example of an island-barrier reef type formation. It consists of a hilly central island known as Grand Terre that is ringed by an outer barrier reef system of some 200 km in length. The outer reef is located between 1 and 7 km off shore and protects an extensive lagoon of around 1,500 km² in area. The barrier reef has four main units: the long curve of the Récif du Sud (top-left in the above image), the Grand Récif du Nord-Est (bottom-right) in the northeast, and the smaller reefs of Récif Pamanzi (bottom-left) in the east and Récif du Nord in the far north.
The main landmass of Mayotte, known as Grande-Terre, has an area of 363 km², measuring 39 km in length and 22 km in width. Terrain is generally low, comprising an undulating terrain that is cut by numerous ridges, short slopes, ravines and valleys. More elevated upland areas with steeper slopes are also found: Mont M'tsapéré (572 m) and Mont Combani (477 m) in the northwest, Hachirougou (489 m) and Dziani Bole (473 m) in the northeast, and Mont Choungui (594 m) on the southern peninsula. A highest elevation of 660 m above sea is reached at Mont Bénara, located upon the steep-sided ridge that cuts across the centre of the island from northwest to southeast.
A number of smaller islands and islets give Mayotte a total land area of 374 km²: Île Pamanzi (10.9 km²), located adjacent to the eastern barrier reef (at bottom-edge of the above image), is the largest of the minor islands and is home to the island's airport; and Île M'Zambourou in the northwest.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
