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Impacts of Sediment on Coral Reefs

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Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Introduction

The relationship between reefs and sediments has been observed by humans certainly for centuries, and possibly for millennia. Columbus observed that his ships could take on fresh water by avoiding the fringing reefs of South America and sailing into the mouths of the Orinoco (Morison, 1974). Moreover, that keen observer Charles Darwin noted that “The deposition… of sediment, checks the growth of coral-reefs” (Darwin, 1842).

Since the earliest seafarers noted that they could approach reef-barred coastlines at river mouths, because no reefs occurred there, we have known that sedimentation kills reefs. In fact, throughout geologic history (including the present), sediment must be considered one of the great killers of reefs. Notwithstanding this, the field still lacks the definitive body of research that would allow management teams to set objective standards and to craft appropriate legislation.

A geological perspective

A great deal of research has been conducted by...

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Acknowledgments

The senior author performed much of the work for this article whilst in residence as a Temminck Fellow at the Natural History Museum in Leiden, Netherlands.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deptartment Of Geology, McMaster University, L85 4M1, Hamilton, Canada

    Michael J. Risk

  2. Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada, A1B 3X9

    Evan Edinger

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  1. James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

    David Hopley

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Risk, M.J., Edinger, E. (2011). Impacts of Sediment on Coral Reefs. In: Hopley, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_25

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