scholarly journals Effects of ocean acidification on the dissolution rates of reef-coral skeletons

PeerJ ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. e208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert van Woesik ◽  
Kelly van Woesik ◽  
Liana van Woesik ◽  
Sandra van Woesik
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Reef Coral ◽  
Reef Growth ◽  
Dissolution Rates ◽  
Coral Skeletons ◽  
Surface Areas ◽  
Coral Colony

Ocean acidification threatens the foundation of tropical coral reefs. This study investigated three aspects of ocean acidification: (i) the rates at which perforate and imperforate coral-colony skeletons passively dissolve when pH is 7.8, which is predicted to occur globally by 2100, (ii) the rates of passive dissolution of corals with respect to coral-colony surface areas, and (iii) the comparative rates of a vertical reef-growth model, incorporating passive dissolution rates, and predicted sea-level rise. By 2100, when the ocean pH is expected to be 7.8, perforateMontiporacoral skeletons will lose on average 15 kg CaCO3m−2y−1, which is approximately −10.5 mm of vertical reduction of reef framework per year. This rate of passive dissolution is higher than the average rate of reef growth over the last several millennia and suggests that reefs composed of perforateMontiporacoral skeletons will have trouble keeping up with sea-level rise under ocean acidification. Reefs composed of primarily imperforate coral skeletons will not likely dissolve as rapidly, but our model shows they will also have trouble keeping up with sea-level rise by 2050.

Subsidence and sea-level rise in the Thames Estuary

1972 ◽  
Vol 272 (1221) ◽  
pp. 121-130 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Thames Estuary ◽  
The North ◽  
Storm Waves ◽  
Late Cretaceous Period ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Sea Area ◽  
Cretaceous Period

The development of the area, of the Thames Estuary is briefly traced since the late Cretaceous period, with its present outline being due to a combination of factors. The overall subsidence of the North Sea area, the ‘Alpine5 fold movements, and the transgression of the sea since the retreat of the Weichselian icesheets have all contributed. The positions of the shore-line during the critical phase, 9600 b.p. to 8000 b.p., of this last transgression of the sea are shown. Subsequent to this main transgressive phase, erosion of the shoreline has been rapid due to storm-waves and tidal current action. An estimation of the average rate of subsidence and/or sea-level rise is given based on the concept of sedimentary equilibrium in which a figure of 12.7 cm (5 in) per century is arrived at.

Sustained coral reef growth in the critical wave dissipation zone of a Maldivian atoll

2022 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul S. Kench ◽  
Edward P. Beetham ◽  
Tracey Turner ◽  
Kyle M. Morgan ◽  
Susan D. Owen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Coastal Hazards ◽  
Reef Crest ◽  
Reef Growth ◽  
Wave Dissipation ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Reef Accretion ◽  
Direct Measurements

AbstractSea-level rise is expected to outpace the capacity of coral reefs to grow and maintain their wave protection function, exacerbating coastal flooding and erosion of adjacent shorelines and threatening coastal communities. Here we present a new method that yields highly-resolved direct measurements of contemporary reef accretion on a Maldivian atoll reef rim, the critical zone that induces wave breaking. Results incorporate the suite of physical and ecological processes that contribute to reef accumulation and show growth rates vary from 6.6 ± 12.5 mm.y−1 on the reef crest, and up to 3.1 ± 10.2 mm.y−1, and −0.5 ± 1.8 mm.yr−1 on the outer and central reef flat respectively. If these short-term results are maintained over decades, the reef crest could keep pace with current sea-level rise. Findings highlight the need to resolve contemporary reef accretion at the critical wave dissipation zone to improve predictions of future reef growth, and re-evaluate exposure of adjacent shorelines to coastal hazards.

The physical sustainability of the coastal zone of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta under climatic and anthropogenic stresses

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Darby ◽  
Md. Munsur Rahman ◽  
Anisul Haque ◽  
Robert Nicholls ◽  
Frances Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
River Management ◽  
Tidal River ◽  
Natural Conditions ◽  
Fluvial Sediment ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Delta Plain ◽  
The Ganges

<p>The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) delta is one of the world’s largest deltas, and consists of large areas of low flat lands formed by the deposition of sediment from the GBM rivers. However, recent estimates have projected between 200~1000 mm of climate-driven sea-level rise by the end of the 21st century, at an average rate of ~6 mm/yr. Eustatic sea-level rise is further compounded by  subsidence of the delta, which in the coastal fringes varies from 0.2 to 7.5 mm/yr, at an average value of ~2.0 mm/yr. Therefore, the combined effect of sea-level rise and subsidence (termed relative sea-level rise, RSLR) is around 8.0 mm/yr. Such high values of RSLR raise the question of whether sediment deposition on the surface of the delta is sufficient to maintain the delta surface above sea level. Moreover, as the total fluvial sediment influx to the GBM delta system is known to be decreasing, the retained portion of fluvial sediment on the delta surface is also likely decreasing, reducing the potential to offset RSLR. Within this context, the potential of various interventions geared at promoting greater retention of sediment on the delta surface is explored using numerical experiments under different flow-sediment regime and anthropogenic interventions.  We find that for the existing, highly managed, conditions, the retained portion of fluvial sediment on the delta surface varies between 22% and 50% during average (when about 20% of the total floodplain in the country is inundated) and extreme (> 60% of the total floodplain in the country is inundated) flood years, respectively. However, the degree to which sediment has the potential to be deposited on the delta surface increases by up to 10% when existing anthropogenic interventions such as polders that act as barriers to delta-plain sedimentation are removed. While dismantling existing interventions is not a politically realistic proposition, more quasi-natural conditions can be reestablished through local- sediment management using tidal river management, cross dams, dredging, bandal-like structures and/or combinations of the above measures.</p>

scholarly journals Role of Future Reef Growth on Morphological Response of Coral Reef Islands to Sea-Level Rise

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Masselink ◽  
Robert McCall ◽  
Edward Beetham ◽  
Paul Simon Kench ◽  
Curt D. Storlazzi
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Reef Growth ◽  
Morphological Response ◽  
Reef Islands

Ice sheet mass balance and sea level

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 413-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Allison ◽  
R.B. Alley ◽  
H.A. Fricker ◽  
R.H. Thomas ◽  
R.C. Warner
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Measurement Technology ◽  
Satellite Gravity ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Ice Sheet Mass Balance

AbstractDetermining the mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (GIS and AIS) has long been a major challenge for polar science. But until recent advances in measurement technology, the uncertainty in ice sheet mass balance estimates was greater than any net contribution to sea level change. The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR4) was able, for the first time, to conclude that, taken together, the GIS and AIS have probably been contributing to sea level rise over the period 1993–2003 at an average rate estimated at 0.4 mm yr-1. Since the cut-off date for work included in AR4, a number of further studies of the mass balance of GIS and AIS have been made using satellite altimetry, satellite gravity measurements and estimates of mass influx and discharge using a variety of techniques. Overall, these studies reinforce the conclusion that the ice sheets are contributing to present sea level rise, and suggest that the rate of loss from GIS has recently increased. The largest unknown in the projections of sea level rise over the next century is the potential for rapid dynamic collapse of ice sheets.

scholarly journals Future Reef Growth Can Mitigate Physical Impacts of Sea-Level Rise on Atoll Islands

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 1002-1014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Beetham ◽  
Paul S. Kench ◽  
Stéphane Popinet
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Reef Growth
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