Grigg, Richard W. (2008): The Darwin Point; a conceptual and historical review

Leg/Site/Hole:
ODP 143
ODP 144
Identifier:
2010-090442
georefid

Creator:
Grigg, Richard W.
University of Hawaii, Department of Oceanography, Honolulu, HI, United States
author

Identification:
The Darwin Point; a conceptual and historical review
2008
In: Riegl, B. M. (editor), Dodge, R. E. (editor), Proceedings of the 11th international coral reef symposium
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, United States
11
56-58
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.
English
Coverage:Geographic coordinates:
North:28.3000
West:-179.0000East: -155.0000
South:19.0000

Quaternary geology; atolls; calcium carbonate; Cenozoic; cores; East Pacific Ocean Islands; geomorphology; growth rates; Hawaii; islands; landform evolution; last glacial maximum; Leg 143; Leg 144; marine sediments; North Pacific; Northwest Pacific; Ocean Drilling Program; ocean floors; Oceania; Pacific Ocean; paleoenvironment; Pleistocene; Polynesia; Quaternary; reef builders; reefs; sea-level changes; seamounts; sediments; United States; West Pacific;

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