Ja. Kleypas, CORAL-REEF DEVELOPMENT UNDER NATURALLY TURBID CONDITIONS - FRINGING REEFS NEAR BROAD-SOUND, AUSTRALIA, Coral reefs, 15(3), 1996, pp. 153-167
Reef coring and NOAA/AVHRR imagery were used to examine differences in
reef colonisation and accumulation across a gradient of increasing ti
dal range and turbidity. AVHRR channel-1 reflectance, which was strong
ly correlated with suspended sediment concentration (SSC), demonstrate
d that SSC is due to tidal resuspension of sediments, and increases wi
th increasing tidal range. Underwater surveys and reef coring revealed
that reef development diminishes with increasing SSC toward Broad Sou
nd. Few reefs near Broad Sound have formed reef flats; those that have
are thinner and accumulated more slowly during the Holocene. The many
submerged reefs in this area represent a mixture of reef ''turn-ons''
and ''turn-offs''. Some are probably incipient reefs in the early sta
ges of reef growth. Others appear to be coral communities growing as t
hin veneers on exposed rock surfaces, rather than coral reef communiti
es with capacity for reef-building. Still others developed reef flats
earlier in the Holocene, and have since turned-off.