A short way off the shore of Dubai lie four beautiful islands in the form of gigantic palm trees: Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali, and Palm Deira, still under development. Each consists of peninsulas extending from a trunk abutting to the Dubai seashore, and topped further seaward by a great seawall for protection. It must have taken very many geotechnical consultants to make the needed examinations of the site’s bottom, each geotechnical consultant an expert in seabed engineering. Because making an island out of shifting undersea sand will take a lot of engineering know-how even before whatever can be put down on record, prior to making any physical construction.

The Palm Jumeirah Crescent or jetty is only 13 feet above the sea level at ebb tide, and ascends from 34 feet of water at its deepest point. Its engineers contend that it is elevated enough not to sink in the rise of the sea level should global warming really occur, or any tidal waves that might form in the Persian Gulf. The jetty is made from rocks blasted from the mountains. At its base is sand covered by a geo-textile or meshed fabric to inhibit the sand from moving out. Anchoring down this ‘wrapped’ sand is a stratum of one-ton boulders, over it two strata of six-ton stones sit to form the top part.

The peninsulas extending from the central avenue are created also from sand taken from the seabottom and then vibro-compacted to bear structures. Palm Jumeirah was created from 3,257,212,970.389 cubic feet of sand. Vibro-compacting is done by filling up the sand with water then vibrating it via probes to make the sand settle more densely. initially a probe is inserted into the sand sub-surface through water saturation and vibration. As the probe reaches its desired depth, flowing sand is tossed down into the opening made by the vibrator probe. Thus a denser zone of sand is created, sufficient to support structures.

But, vibro-compaction may be suitable only in clean sand where fine clay content forms only 15% at the most.

In eery peninsula or frond are two rows of residential land or structures for the really rich, and anyone can purchase his place there. Palm Jumeirah is expected to house 120,000 homeowners and workers, plus another 20,000 tourists each day. So it is not really a small island where privacy can be found, but a gigantic self-contained sub-urban area of the really, really billionaires. There are today people living in the islands: real property owners, transients, speculators and laborers giving last touches to a few parts of the reclaimed areas. A six-lane highway today functions as the transportation artery in and out the fronds, but in the final stages, inhabitants will also be serviced by a rail transport system.

Palm Jumeirah and the other man-made islands exemplify what modern engineering supported by so much money can accomplish. While land building from the sea to create islands may not be a new idea because it has been made numerous instances before, the project’s enormous size causes it so.