Biorock Electric Reefs Grow Back Severely Eroded Beaches in Months

Abstract

Severely eroded beaches on low lying islands in Indonesia were grown back in a few months-believed to be a record-using an innovative method of shore protection, Biorock electric reef technology. Biorock shore protection reefs are growing limestone structures that get stronger with age and repair themselves, are cheaper than concrete or rock sea walls and breakwaters, and are much more effective at shore protection and beach growth. Biorock reefs are permeable, porous, growing, self-repairing structures of any size or shape, which dissipate wave energy by internal refraction, diffraction, and frictional dissipation. They do not cause reflection of waves like hard sea walls and breakwaters, which erodes the sand in front of, and then underneath, such structures, until they collapse. Biorock reefs stimulate settlement, growth, survival, and resistance to the environmental stress of all forms of marine life, restoring coral reefs, sea grasses, biological sand production, and fisheries habitat. Biorock reefs can grow back eroded beaches and islands faster than the rate of sea level rise, and are the most cost-effective method of shore protection and adaptation to global sea level rise for low lying islands and coasts.

Virtual reality as a tool for environmental conservation and fundraising

“…Donations were collected for the coral conservation organization Gili Eco Trust. The Gili Eco Trust is a local community-organized conservation organization on Gili Trawangan that focuses efforts on restoring and regenerating coral reefs using Biorock technology (Goreau and Prong 2017). In addition to implementing and maintaining one of the largest coral restoration projects in the world, the Gili Eco Trust manages several sustainability programs on the island including weekly beach cleans, garbage and compost collection, plastic bottle bank (money for plastic), recycling services (sorting, cleaning, crushing, and shipping off the island to a recycle center in Lombok), sourcing alternative plastic products for island businesses, advocating for sustainable policies and infrastructure, and providing conservation education to the local schools.…”

Using Propagules to Restore Coastal Marine Ecosystems

“…Some restoration efforts have focused on providing the substrate that coral larvae settle on. In one type of application, low voltage electrical currents are used to encourage precipitation of minerals (aragonite, brucite), which are then colonized by encrusting coralline algae (e.g., Goreau and Prong, 2017). These algae in turn exude chemical compounds that are used by larvae as settlement cues: however, not all coralline algae exude these chemicals, which might explain why this approach can yield either positive or negative effects on the settlement, growth and survival of coral propagules (e.g., Chavanich et al, 2014;Goreau, 2014).…”

Coring of Antarctic Subglacial Sediments

“…Such information cannot be provided by ice cores, as these are restricted to the age of the ice itself (~1 million years) [7], whereas the sedimentary records show that the last time central West Antarctica was ice-free~1 million years ago [18]. Sediment cores can provide paleontological and geochemical data for paleo-climate research and infer the time the west Antarctic ice shelves collapsed [19,20].…”