Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs Structure, Form and Process

About this book

Coral reefs are the largest landforms built by plants and animals. Their study therefore incorporates a wide range of disciplines. This encyclopedia approaches coral reefs from an earth science perspective, concentrating especially on modern reefs. Currently coral reefs are under high stress, most prominently from climate change with changes to water temperature, sea level and ocean acidification particularly damaging. Modern reefs have evolved through the massive environmental changes of the Quaternary with long periods of exposure during glacially lowered sea level periods and short periods of interglacial growth.

The entries in this encyclopedia condense the large amount of work carried out since Charles Darwin first attempted to understand reef evolution. Leading authorities from many countries have contributed to the entries covering areas of geology, geography and ecology, providing comprehensive access to the most up-to-date research on the structure, form and processes operating on Quaternary coral reefs.

Contents

Acanthaster planci.- Accommodation space.- Acropora.- Adaptation.- Aerial photography of coral reefs.- Agassiz, Alexander (1835-1910).- Airborne dust impacts.- Algae - blue green boring.- Algae - coralline.- Algae - macro.- Algae, turf.- Algal rims.- Antecedent platforms.- Aragonite.- Atoll islands - Atolls.- AUVs (ROVs).- Back-stepping.- Bafflestone.- Bahamas.- Banks Island: Frasnian (Late Devonian) reefs in arctic Canada.- Banks, Joseph.- Barbados.- Barrier reef (ribbon reef).- Bassett edges.- Beach rock.- Belize barrier and atoll reefs.- Bermuda.- Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands.- Binding organisms.- Bindstone.- Bioerosion.- Bioherms and Biostromes.- Bioturbation.- Blowholes.- Blue Hole.- Boat channel.- Boulder beaches.- Boulder zone/ramparts.- Brazil, Coral Reefs.- Bryozoa.- Calcite.- Calcrete/caliche.- Carbon fluxes of coral reefs.- Carbonate budgets and reef framework accumulation.- Carboniferous reefs.- Caribbean coral reefs, Southeastern.- Cay formation.- Chamisso, Albert Von (1781-1838).- Classification of carbonates.- Climate change - impact of sea level rise on reef flat zonation and productivity.- Climate change - increasing storm activity.- Climate change and coral reefs.- Cocos (Keeling) Islands.- Cold water coral reefs.- Conglomerates.- Cook, James (1728-1779).- Coral cay classification and evolution.- Coral cays - geohydrology.- Coral cays - vegetational succession.- Coral reef -- definition.- Coral reefs of India.- Reefs and the biology of coral skeleton formation.- Corals - environmental controls on growth.- Core plugs.- Daly, Reginald Aldworth (1871-1957).- Dana, James Dwight (1813-1895).- Darwin Point.- Darwin, Charles (1809-1882).- David, Tannant Edgeworth (1858 - 1934).- Davis, William Morris (1850 - 1935).- Density and porosity - influence on reef accretion rates.- Devonian reef complexes of the Canning Basin.- Diagenesis.- Dolomotization.- Double and triple reef fronts.- Drilling.- Earthquakes and emergence or submergence of coral reefs.- East Indies Triangle of biodiversity.- Eastern Indian Ocean - Northern Sector.- Eastern tropical coral Pacific reefs.- Echinodermata.- Eco-morphodynamics.- Ecomorphology.- El Nino/La Nina and ENSO.- Electro mineral accretion.- Electron spin resonance dating (ESR).- Emerged reefs.- Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands.- Engineering and coral reefs with emphasis on Pacific reefs.- Eolianite.- Faroes reefs.- Floatstone.- Florida Keys.- FORAM Index.- Foraminifera.- Fore reef/reef front.- Fossil coralline algae.- Framestone.- Fringing reef circulation.- Fringing reefs.- Funafuti Atoll.- Gardiner, John Stanley (1872-1946).- General evolution of carbonate reefs.- Glacial control hypothesis.- Glacio-hydro isostasy.- Global ocean circulation and coral reefs.- Great Barrier Reef.- Great Barrier Reef Committee.- Halimeda.- Halimeda bioherms.- Hawaiian Emperor Volcanic Chain and coral reef history.- Heavy metal accumulation in Scleractinian corals.- Historical ecology of coral reefs.- Holocene high energy window.- Holocene reefs thickness and characteristics.- Huon Peninsula, P.N.G..- Hydrodynamics of coral reefs systems.- Impacts of sediment on coral reefs.- Climate change -- Impact on coral reef coasts.- Indian Ocean reefs.- Indonesian reefs.- Infrastructure and reef islands.- Internal circulation.- Intrinsic and extrinsic drivers on coral reefs.- Lagoon circulation.- Lagoons.- Last glacial interstadials.- Last glacial low stand and shelf exposure.- Last Interglacial and reef development.- Low wooded Islands.- Lyell, Charles (1797-1875).- MacNeil, Francis Stearns (1909-1983).- Makatea.- Maldives.- Mangrove Islands.- Mangroves.- Mariana Islands, Coral reef geology.- Mass extinctions, anoxic events and ocean acidification.- Mayor, Alfred Goldsborough (1868-1922).- Megablocks.- Melwater pulses.- Micrite.- Microatoll.- Microbes.- Mid Holocene.- Midway Atoll [Hawaiian Archipelago].- Mining/quarrying of coral reefs.- Moating.- Moats.- Molluscs.- Mururoa Atoll.- New Caledonia.- Notch and visor.- Nutrient pollution/eutrophication.- Ocean acidification - effects on calcification.- Oceanic hotspots.- Octocorallia.- Oil and gas reservoirs and coral reefs.- Ooids.- Pacific coral reefs: an introduction.- Packstone.- Palaeoclimate from corals.- Palaeosols.- Patch reefs: lidar morphometric analysis .- Permian Capitan reef system.- Persian/Arabian Gulf, coral reefs.- Peysonnel, Jean-Andre (1694-1759).- Phosphatic cay sandstone.- Plate tectonics.- Platforms (cemented).- Poleward extension of reefs.- Porites.- Porosity variability in limestone sequences.- Postglacial transgression.- Quoy, Jean Rene (1790-1869) and Gaimard, Joseph Paul (1796-1858).- Radiocarbon (14C): dating and corals.- recent sea level trends.- Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba.- Reef balls.- Reef classification - Fairbridge (1950).- Reef classification - Hopley (1982).- Reef classification - Maxwell (1968).- Reef classification - response to sea level rise.- Reef conservation and marine protected areas.- Reef flats.- Reefal sediments.- Reef front wave energy.- Reef interconnectivity/larval dispersal.- Reef restoration.- Reef structure.- Reef topographic complexity.- Reef typology.- Reefal microbial crusts.- Reefs at risk: map-based analyses of threats to coral reefs.- Remote sensing.- Residence time.- Reticulated reefs.- Rhodoliths.- River plumes and coral reefs.- Royal Society of London.- Rudstone.- Ryukyu Islands.- Scleractinia, evolution and taxonomy.- Sclerochronology.- Sea level changes and effects on reef growth.- Sea level indicators.- Seagrasses.- Sediment durability.- Sediment dynamics.- Sediments, properties.- Seismic reflection imaging of coral reefs.- Seismic refraction.- Shingle ridges.- Soils of low elevation coral structures.- Solution processes/reef erosion.- Solution unconformities.- Spiculite.- Sponges.- Spurs and grooves.- Stable isotopes and trace elements.- Steers, James Alfred (1899 - 1987).- Stoddart, David Rodd (1937).- Stromatolites.- Submarine groundwater discharge.- Submarine lithification.- Submerged reefs.- Subsidence hypothesis of reef development.- Swathe mapping.- Symbiosis.- Tahiti/Society Islands.- Taphonomy.- Temperature change - bleaching.- Tethys Ocean.- Tidal effects on coral reefs.- Tidal jets.- Tropical cyclone/hurricane.- Tsunami.- Turbid-zone and terrigenous sediment-influenced reefs.- Underwater landscape mosaics.- Unvegetated cays.- Upwelling and coral reefs.- Uranium series dating.- Vanuatu.- Vaughan, Thomas Wayland (1870-1952).- Vegetated cays.- Volcanic disturbances and coral reefs.- Volcanic loading and isostasy.- Wackestone.- Walther, Johannes (1860-1937).- Wave-set up.- Wave shoaling and refraction.- Waves and wave-driven currents.- West Indian coral reef classification.- Western Atlantic/ Caribbean, coral reefs.- Western Australian reefs.- Western Indian Ocean.- Yonge, Sir Maurice (1899-1986).- Zooxanthellae.

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Biography

David Hopley is Professor Emeritus in the School of Earth and Environmental Science at James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, where he has worked since 1965. He has an M.A. from the University of Manchester and PhD. from James Cook University. His initial research into Holocene sea levels and tropical landforms quickly focused on the evolution of coral reefs, reflecting the importance of the Great Barrier Reef to his home institution. Experience with coral reefs extends to many parts of the world including Australia, Barbados, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Papua New Guinea, Rodrigues and Thailand. He has authored and edited almost 200 scientific publications. Amongst numerous awards have been the J.P. Thomson silver medal from the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (1984) and Life Membership of PACON International (1992).