Retrograde Accretion of a Caribbean Fringing Reef Controlled by Hurricanes and Sea-level Rise

by P. Blanchon et al., October 12, 2017 in Front.Earth.Sci


Predicting the impact of sea-level (SL) rise on coral reefs requires reliable models of reef accretion. Most assume that accretion results from vertical growth of coralgal framework, but recent studies show that reefs exposed to hurricanes consist of layers of coral gravel rather than in-place corals. New models are therefore needed to account for hurricane impact on reef accretion over geological timescales