Stone reefs are bands of beach rock, either semi- or fully submerged, separated from the shoreline by open water or a lagoon. They represent a stage in tropical shoreline development where, following normal beach rock formation below the active beach, coastal retreat has occurred stranding the beach rock as a stone reef seaward of the present shoreline or lagoon shore (Fig. 1). Stone reefs often lie in a series of a parallel bands, each band representing former beach lines. Where the outer bands occur at successively greater depths, they represent beach rock developed at stillstands in the recent transgression. Stone reefs are therefore restricted to the tropical areas of beach rock formation, in particular where significant coastal retreat has occurred.
Straight band of beach rock, now stranded as a stone reef 13 km in length at Suape, Pernambuco, Brazil. Note the lagoon shoreline responding to the amount of wave energy allowed through the reef, with the embayment occurring...
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References
Branner, J. C., 1905. Stone reefs on the northeast coast of Brazil, Geol. Soc. America Bull. 16, 1–13.
Mabesoone, J. M., 1964. Origin and age of the sand-stone reefs of Pernambuco (N.E. Brazil), Jour. Sed. Petrology 34, 715–726.
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© 1982 Hutchinson Ross Publishing Company
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Short, A.D. (1982). Stone reef . In: Beaches and Coastal Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_438
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_438
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