Abstract
We report on the age structure and net accretion rates determined for an open water turbid zone reef, known as Offshore Paluma Shoals, located on the inner central Great Barrier Reef. Twenty-eight radiocarbon dates from 5 cores through the reef structure indicate that this reef began growing ~1,700 years ago and that net vertical accretion through the main phase of reef development was rapid (averaging 7.8 mm yr−1), this despite the reef growing in highly turbid waters. The most rapid growth phases coincided with the accumulation of mud-rich terrigenoclastic sediments within the reef fabric. The study emphasises the capacity of turbid zone reefs to vertically accrete at rates matching or exceeding many clear water reefs despite seemingly detrimental water quality conditions.
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Acknowledgments
Work was supported through a UK Leverhulme Research Fellowship (RF/4/RFG/2007/0106) to CTP, and NERC Radiocarbon Dating Allocation 1458.0310 to CTP, SGS and PG.
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Communicated by Geology Editor Prof. Bernhard Riegl
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Perry, C.T., Smithers, S.G. & Gulliver, P. Rapid vertical accretion on a ‘young’ shore-detached turbid zone reef: Offshore Paluma Shoals, central Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Coral Reefs 32, 1143–1148 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-013-1063-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-013-1063-8