The term "Darwin Point" is defined as the geographic or depth limit (threshold) beyond or below which coral reefs drown. Reef drowning occurs when net production of CaCO (sub 3) or vertical accretion of the reef no longer keeps up with relative sea level. If sea level is rising very fast, then reef drowning can occur even if there is very low vertical accretion. If present ecological conditions were to change, due to a rise or fall in sea-level, geophysical uplift or subsidence, or Global Climate Change, the geographic location or depth limit of a Darwin Point would also change. In this paper, the history of the Darwin Point concept is reviewed and several examples are given of reefs and atolls that have drowned having exceeded a Darwin Point threshold. Such appears to be the case for: 1) guyots beyond the northwestern end of the Hawaiian Archipelago, 2) atolls that crossed equatorial latitudes due to plate movement in the Pacific during Cretaceous Time, and 3) many drowned reefs extant at the present time; a result of sea-level rise since the last Glacial Maximum 21,000 years ago.

West: -179.0000 East: -155.0000 North: 28.3000 South: 19.0000

West: NaN East: NaN North: NaN South: NaN

Expedition: 143

Expedition: 144

Provider: SEDIS Publication Catalogue

Data set link: http://sedis.iodp.org/pub-catalogue/index.php?id=2010-090442 (c.f. for more detailed metadata)

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