CORAL REEFS

Coral reefs are the most diverse and beautiful of all marine habitats. Large wave
resistant structures have accumulated from the slow growth of corals. The
development of these structures is aided by algae that are symbiotic with reef-
building corals, known as zooxanthellae. Coralline algae, sponges, and other
organisms, combined with a number of cementation processes also contribute to
reef growth.

The dominant organisms are known as framework builders, because they

provide the matrix for the growing reef. Corals and coralline algae precipitate
calcium carbonate, whereas the framework- building sponges may also
precipitate silica. Most of these organisms are colonial, and the slow process of
precipitation moves the living surface layer of the reef upward and seaward.

The reef is topographically complex. Much like a rain forest, it has many strata
and areas of strong shade, cast by the overtowering coral colonies. Because of the
complexity, thousands of species of fish and invertebrates live in association with
reefs, which are by far our richest marine habitats. In Caribbean reefs, for
example, several hundred species of colonial invertebrates can be found living on
the undersides of platy corals. It is not unusual for a reef to have several hundred
species of snails, sixty species of corals, and several hundred species of fish. Of all
ocean habitats, reefs seem to have the greatest development of complex symbiotic
associations.
Reef-building corals may occur in a variety of growth forms, and there often is
strong variation in coral shape even within a species. In this photograph, we can
see the branching elkhorn coral Acropora palmata (upper left), with arms showing
strong orientation into an oscillatory current between left and right. In the right
foreground is the mound-shaped coral Montastrea annularis. It is of great interest
that such differently shaped corals can occur side by side.
Types of Coral Reefs
Most reef scientists generally recognize three basic types of coral
reefs: atolls, barrier reefs, andfringing reefs.

The differences between these three main reef types are pronounced in terms of
large-scale structure. Nonetheless, there is often a good deal of similarity between
them within a given biogeographic region in terms of dominant species of coral reef
fishes, reef-building corals, and other forms of marine life, as well as their
ecological interactions within the coral reef biome.
    
The three main types of coral reefs: (a) atoll (left), (b) barrier reef
(center) Courtesy NASA, and (c) fringing reef (right) © Fotolia.com

Atolls
Atolls are roughly circular (or occasionally horseshoe-shaped) oceanic reef
complexes surrounding a large, deep central lagoon.

Indo-Pacific coral atolls. © Fotolia

They are most common in the Indo-Pacific region where over 300 atolls are found,
but rare in the Greater Caribbean which houses only about 10-15. The four best
developed Caribbean atolls are found off southern Mexico and the coast of Belize.
Atolls can exceed 100 miles in diameter and contain lagoons several thousand
square miles in extent. The best developed parts of reefs surrounding atolls are on
the windward side, where wave energy is greatest.

Barrier Reefs
Barrier reefs are reef systems that parallel the shore and are separated from it by a
wide lagoon that contain at least some deep portions.

A barrier reef surrounds Bora Bora. Courtesy NASA

Examples of large barrier reefs can be found in both the Indo-Pacific and Greater
Caribbean, with the Great Barrier Reef of Australia being the prime example.

The very largest barrier reefs develop on the edges of continental shelves (e.g.,
Great Barrier Reef; Belize Barrier Reef). These massive reef complexes are
sometimes referred to as "shelf barrier reefs" to differentiate them from the much
smaller barrier reefs surrounding islands (see photo; left).

The back reef zones and lagoons of shelf barrier reefs are often very extensive, in
some cases lying over 100 miles from the mainland in some areas. In contrast, the
barrier reef surrounding the narrow lagoon of Bora Bora (above) actually transitions
into a fringing reef in a few places.
Fringing Reefs
The third major coral reef type are fringing reefs.

A fringing reef rings an Indian Ocean island. Courtesy NASA

These are reef systems growing fairly close to or directly from shore, with an
entirely shallow lagoon or no lagoon at all.

Fringing reefs are by far the most common reef type in the Greater Caribbean
region and Red Sea. Fringing reefs also surround many South Pacific and Indian
Ocean islands.

Because they are situated relatively close to island or mainland shores, fringing
reefs are generally the most susceptible to coastal development, agriculture,
pollution, and other human activities that result in sedimentation and freshwater
runoff.

Development Of Reef Type Classification

The basic coral reef classification scheme described above was first proposed
by Charles Darwin, and is still widely used today.
 The evolution of the three main types of coral reefs, as first proposed by Charles
Darwin

Darwin spent most of his coral reef explorations in the Indo-Pacific region, and
viewed the three types of coral reefs he described as simply different stages in the
geological 'evolution" of Pacific oceanic islands.

Darwin theorized that fringing reefs began to grow near the shorelines of new
islands as ecological conditions became ideal for hard coral growth. Then, as the
island began to gradually subside into the sea, the coral was able to keep pace in
terms of growth and remained in place at the sea surface, but farther from shore; it
was now a barrier reef.

Eventually, the island disappeared below the sea surface, leaving only the ring of
coral encircling the central lagoon; an atoll had formed (see diagram, right).

Darwin's general "reef evolution" theory was finally verified for Indo-Pacific reefs in
the early 1950s after analyses of the results of deep core drilling at Bikini and
Eniwetok Atolls. However, it has also now become apparent that each of these
three types of coral reef can, in some instances, also be formed by different
processes as well.
Formation
Most coral reefs were formed after the last glacial period when melting ice caused the sea level to rise
and flood the continental shelves. This means that most coral reefs are less than 10,000 years old. As
communities established themselves on the shelves, the reefs grew upwards, pacing rising sea levels.
Reefs that rose too slowly could become drowned reefs, covered by so much water that there was
insufficient light.[6]Coral reefs are also found in the deep sea away from the continental shelves,
around oceanic islands and as atolls. The vast majority of these islands are volcanic in origin. The few
exceptions have tectonic origins where plate movements have lifted the deep ocean floor on the surface.

In 1842 in his first monograph, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs[7] Charles Darwin set out his
theory of the formation of atoll reefs, an idea he conceived during the voyage of the  Beagle. He
theorized uplift and subsidence of the Earth's crust under the oceans formed the atolls.[8] Darwin’s theory
sets out a sequence of three stages in atoll formation. It starts with a fringing reef forming around an
extinct volcanic as the island and ocean floor subsides. As the subsidence continues, the fringing reef
becomes a barrier reef, and ultimately an atoll reef.

Darwin’s theory starts with a volcanic island which becomes extinct

As the island and ocean floor subside, coral growth builds a fringing reef, often including a shallow lagoon between

the land and the main reef

As the subsidence continues the fringing reef becomes a larger barrier reef further from the shore with a bigger and

deeperlagoon inside

 
 

Ultimately the island sinks below the sea, and the barrier reef becomes anatoll enclosing an open lagoon

Darwin predicted that underneath each lagoon would be a bed rock base, the remains of the original
volcano. Subsequent drilling proved this correct. Darwin's theory followed from his understanding that
coral polyps thrive in the clean seas of the tropics where the water is agitated, but can only live within a
limited depth range, starting just below low tide. Where the level of the underlying earth allows, the corals
grow around the coast to form what he called fringing reefs, and can eventually grow out from the shore
to become a barrier reef.

A fringing reef can take ten thousand years to form, and an atoll can take up to 30 million years [9]

Where the bottom is rising, fringing reefs can grow around the coast, but coral raised above sea level dies
and becomes white limestone. If the land subsides slowly, the fringing reefs keep pace by growing
upwards on a base of older, dead coral, forming a barrier reef enclosing a lagoon between the reef and
the land. A barrier reef can encircle an island, and once the island sinks below sea level a roughly circular
atoll of growing coral continues to keep up with the sea level, forming a central lagoon. Barrier reefs and
atolls don't usually form complete circles, but are broken in places by storms. Like sea level rise, a rapidly
subsiding bottom subside can overwhelm coral growth, killing the animals and the reef. [8][10]

The two main variables determining the geomorphology, or shape, of coral reefs are the nature of the
underlying substrate on which they rest, and the history of the change in sea level relative to that
substrate.

The approximately 20,000 year old Great Barrier Reef offers an example of how coral reefs formed on
continental shelves. Sea level was then 120 metres (390 ft) lower than in the twenty-first century.[11][12] As
sea level rose, the water and the corals encroached on what had been hills of the Australian coastal plain.
By 13,000 years ago sea level had risen to 60 metres (200 ft) lower than at present, and many hills of the
coastal plains had become continental islands. As the sea level rise continued, water topped most of the
continental islands. The corals could then overgrow the hills, forming the present caysand reefs. Sea level
on the Great Barrier Reef has not changed significantly in the last 6,000 years, [12] and the age of the
modern living reef structure is estimated to be between 6,000 and 8,000 years. [13] Although the Great
Barrier Reef formed along a continental shelf, and not around a volcanic island, Darwin's principles apply.
Development stopped at the barrier reef stage, since Australia is not about to submerge. It formed the
world's largest barrier reef, 300–1,000 metres (980–3,300 ft) from shore, stretching for 2,000 kilometres
(1,200 mi).[14]

Healthy tropical coral reefs grow horizontally from 1 to 3 centimetres (0.39 to 1.2 in) per year, and grow
vertically anywhere from 1 to 25 centimetres (0.39 to 9.8 in) per year; however, they grow only at depths
shallower than 150 metres (490 ft) due to their need for sunlight, and cannot grow above sea level.