Holocene Coral Growth in SE Florida

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Southeast Florida Reef Tract

Relict backstepping reef complex
• Initiated at ~10,000 yr B.P. (~26 meters below sea level) 
• Ceased accretion at ~5,000 yr B.P. (7 meters below sea level) 
• Acroporid expansion in response to the Holocene Thermal Maximum?
• Contraction due to cooling?
mapt

  ageplot

site

Coastline view of Pompano Beach from the research site (Photo A. Oleinik)

 

Alex

Graduate student Alex Modys lifting a large fragment of Holocene subfossil Acropora palmata colony from the rubble at 17 feet off Pompano Beach (Photo A. Oleinik)

 

Alex

Graduate student Alex Modys sampling a sub-fossil 2500-year old coral head off the coast of Broward County, Florida. The coral — Orbicella annularis— is being collected as part of an ongoing research project that aims to reconstruct the interacting impacts of climate and intense hurricanes on coral reef development in southeast Florida during the late Holocene (Photo by A. Oleinik). 

 

Apalmata rubble

Detail of unconsolidated Holocene Acropora palmata rubble (Photo A. Modys)

 

rubble

Unconsolidated Holocene Acropora palmata rubble (Photo A. Modys)

 

mound

Consolidated Holocene  Acropora mound (Photo A. Modys)

 

cervicornis

Unconsolidated Holocene Acropora cervicornis rubble (Photo A. Oleinik)

 

thicket

Thicket of living Acropora cervicornis in the vicinity of the research site, 16 feet (Photo A. Oleinik) 

 

Oannularis

Holocene subfossil colony of Orbicella annularis (Photo A. Modys)

 

D strigosa

Holocene subfossil colony of Diploria strigosa  (Photo A. Modys)

 

marks

Burial and re-exposure marks on the Holocene colony of Diploria strigosa (Photo A. Modys)

  

palmata

Large colony of Acropora palmata displaced and overturned by a hurricane waves with growth of new colonies out of old branches (Photo A. Oleinik)

 

surface

Surface of consolidated Holocene coral rubble colonized by Acropora cervicornis and soft corals - Plexaurella and Pseudopterogorgia (Photo A. Oleinik)

 

cervicornis

Unconsolidated Holocene Acropora cervicornis rubble in 15 feet of water (Photo A. Oleinik) 

 

pano

Panoramic shot of the Holocene coral rubble and mounds in 17 feet of water (Photo A. Oleinik)