Figure 1 - uploaded by Pascal Kindler
Content may be subject to copyright.
1: Geography of the Bahamas (from Sealey, 2006). Note the decrease in size of the banks towards the SE.

1: Geography of the Bahamas (from Sealey, 2006). Note the decrease in size of the banks towards the SE.

Contexts in source publication

Context 1
... this section, we combine the stratigraphic observations made by various teams of researchers on almost all Bahamas islands, and complement these with recent results obtained from Mayaguana Island ( Kindler et al., submitted; Godefroid, in prep.; Fig. ...
Context 2
... location, a reef is subjected to five coeval and interrelated processes that contribute to its formation (Woodroffe, 2003; Fig. 3.10). These include primary framework (i.e. coral) growth, secondary reef growth (coral encrusting by various colonizing organisms), reef erosion by both physical (wave and storm action) and biological (boring, grazing; Fig. 3.11) processes that provide material for internal sedimentation within the reef, and finally cementation that binds the reef. The latter process is particularly important to ensure the firmness of carbonate buildups composed of organisms incapable of forming their own rigid framework (e.g. rudistids, bryozoans, foraminifers; Longman, 1981). ...
Context 3
... microbial laminated carbonate mud may produce chips that are ripped up by storms and redeposited (flat pebbles). These may in turn be stabilized again by algal-microbial overgrowth. Tepees form on arid tidal flats when desiccation cracks are filled by sediment and subsequent growth of cement pushes the dried, superficial sediment layers upwards (Fig. 5.11). (Wright and Burchette, 1996). In the fossil record, the above-mentioned sedimentary features allow distiguishing between tidal flats that formed in arid, semi-arid, and humid climate (Fig. 5.12). Evaporites are common in arid tidal-flat sediments. Many ancient tidal-flat deposits show signs of dolomitization. On recent tidal flats, ...
Context 4
... dune bedding directly superimposed on shoreface structures) indicates a forced regression, i.e. progradation during a fall of sea level. A rise of sea level may be expressed by a deepening upward sequence of facies (Fig. 6.10b), but more generally by a erosional surface (ravinement surface). McKee and Ward (1983) identify a number of dune types (Fig. 6.11) that include transverse and barchanoid ridges as well as barchan and parabolic dunes. Dune type is related to the wind regime (uni-or bidirectional) and the importance of vegetation. In the Bahamas, transverse and "haystack" dunes ( Fig. 6.12) are most represented. Parabolic dunes (Fig. 6.13) have been identified in the late ...

Citations

... CaCO 3 bioerosion is a dynamic process pertaining to complex ecological impacts within coral reefs [2]. The intensity and pace of bioerosion influences the cycling of biogenic CaCO 3 and supports the formation of sediment in large buildups such as carbonate platforms and reef structures [3][4][5]. From the reef ecosystem or colony scale, bioerosion, by way of endolithic (i.e. inside hard substrate) micro-and macrobioerosion, as well as epilithic (i.e. on hard substrate) attachment etching and grazing activity, effects the physical resistance of coral reef framework to extrinsic erosion such as storm surges, thereby further promoting sediment production [6]. ...
Article
Full-text available
Coral reefs persist in an accretion-erosion balance, which is critical for understanding the natural variability of sediment production, reef accretion, and their effects on the carbonate budget. Bioerosion (i.e. biodegradation of substrate) and encrustation (i.e. calcified overgrowth on substrate) influence the carbonate budget and the ecological functions of coral reefs, by substrate formation/consolidation/erosion, food availability and nutrient cycling. This study investigates settlement succession and carbonate budget change by bioeroding and encrusting calcifying organisms on experimentally deployed coral substrates (skeletal fragments of Stylophora pistillata branches). The substrates were deployed in a marginal coral reef located in the Gulf of Papagayo (Costa Rica, Eastern Tropical Pacific) for four months during the northern winter upwelling period (December 2013 to March 2014), and consecutively sampled after each month. Due to the upwelling environmental conditions within the Eastern Tropical Pacific, this region serves as a natural laboratory to study ecological processes such as bioerosion, which may reflect climate change scenarios. Time-series analyses showed a rapid settlement of bioeroders, particularly of lithophagine bivalves of the genus Lithophaga/Leiosolenus (Dillwyn, 1817), within the first two months of exposure. The observed enhanced calcium carbonate loss of coral substrate (>30%) may influence seawater carbon chemistry. This is evident by measurements of an elevated seawater pH (>8.2) and aragonite saturation state (Ωarag >3) at Matapalo Reef during the upwelling period, when compared to a previous upwelling event observed at a nearby site in distance to a coral reef (Marina Papagayo). Due to the resulting local carbonate buffer effect of the seawater, an influx of atmospheric CO2 into reef waters was observed. Substrates showed no secondary cements in thin-section analyses, despite constant seawater carbonate oversaturation (Ωarag >2.8) during the field experiment. Micro Computerized Tomography (μCT) scans and microcast-embeddings of the substrates revealed that the carbonate loss was primarily due to internal macrobioerosion and an increase in microbioerosion. This study emphasizes the interconnected effects of upwelling and carbonate bioerosion on the reef carbonate budget and the ecological turnovers of carbonate producers in tropical coral reefs under environmental change.