Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of Sedimentary Research

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (23) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yamano, H. Articles by Yonekura, N. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Anatomy of a Modern Coral Reef Flat: A Recorder of Storms and Uplift in the Late Holocene

¹ Department of Geography, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; present address: Social and Environmental Systems Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0053, Japan; hyamano{at}nies.go.jp
² Department of Geography, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Corporation; present address: Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
³ Department of Geography, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; present address: 3-15-12 Kohyama, Nerima, Tokyo 176-0022, Japan

Cores from Kabira Reef, Ishigaki Island, southwest Japan, reveal the internal structure and temporal changes in sedimentary process of a complete coral reef flat. The reef crest caught up with sea level at about 4000 yr BP. Since then, it expanded oceanward and the reef pavement has grown landward. The backreef structure is composed of bioclasts derived from the reef framework. Of all the bioclasts, corals and coralline algae are most abundant. Coral fragments coarser than –3.0 ø have dominated the backreef sediments since about 2000 yr BP. Benthic foraminiferal tests first occurred at about 4000 yr BP, and their abundance increased significantly starting around 2000 yr BP. Shallowing of the reef crest is also indicated by the presence of the shallow-water benthic Foraminifera Baculogypsina sphaerulata tests after 2000 yr BP. The date 2000 yr BP is coincident with tectonic uplift at Kabira Reef (Kawana 1989). We consider this uplift to have caused a relative sea-level fall that aided the deposition of coral fragments transported from the reef pavement by storms. The relative sea-level fall also caused subaerial exposure of the reef crest during low tides and the transition of reef-building organisms from corals to shallow-water species of benthic Foraminifera, resulting in a change noticeable in the constituents of backreef sediments. The results of this study suggest that the coral reef flat, and especially the backreef, can be a faithful recorder of relative sea-level changes.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Milia, A. Raspini, and M. M. Torrente Evidence of slope instabilities and tsunami associated with the 3.5 ka Avellino eruption of Somma-Vesuvius volcano, Italy Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2009; 322(1): 105 - 119. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. K. Hubbard, H. Zankl, I. Van Heerden, and I. P. Gill Holocene Reef Development Along the Northeastern St. Croix Shelf, Buck Island, U.S. Virgin Islands Journal of Sedimentary Research, January 1, 2005; 75(1): 97 - 113. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]