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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 37,
L15602,
6 PP., 2010
doi:10.1029/2010GL044067
Response of coral reefs to climate change: Expansion and demise of the southernmost Pacific coral reef
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Kirrawee, New South Wales, Australia
Radiogenic Isotope Facility, Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Coral reefs track sea level and are particularly sensitive to changes in climate. Reefs are threatened by global warming, with many experiencing increased coral bleaching. Warmer sea surface temperatures might enable reef expansion into mid latitudes. Here we report multibeam sonar and coring that reveal an extensive relict coral reef around Lord Howe Island, which is fringed by the southernmost reef in the Pacific Ocean. The relict reef, in water depths of 25–50 m, flourished in early Holocene and covered an area more than 20 times larger than the modern reef. Radiocarbon and uranium-series dating indicates that corals grew between 9000 and 7000 years ago. The reef was subsequently drowned, and backstepped to its modern limited extent. This relict reef, with localised re-establishment of corals in the past three millennia, could become a substrate for reef expansion in response to warmer temperatures, anticipated later this century and beyond, if corals are able to recolonise its surface.
Received 21 May 2010; accepted 6 July 2010; published 3 August 2010.
Citation: (2010), Response of coral reefs to climate change: Expansion and demise of the southernmost Pacific coral reef, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L15602, doi:10.1029/2010GL044067.
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