Coral reef response to Quaternary sea‐level and environmental changes: State of the science

Abstract

There is considerable uncertainty about future sea-level projections due to the current poor understanding of the vulnerability and sensitivity of ice sheets to global warming. Fossil coral reefs represent a unique archive of sea-level and associated environmental changes that extend far beyond instrumental records. Here, recent advances in this field are summarized, focusing on periods of Earth history typified by rapid sea-level rise and short-term climate excursions. Sea-level and reef response records from the Last Deglaciation, and periods characterized by higher sea-level stands and short-term and low-magnitude sea-level oscillations such as the Mid to Late Holocene and the Last Interglacial are synthesised. Special emphasis is given to understanding how coral reefs have responded to these changes in terms of reef development, architecture and composition. Finally, seven major challenges and future research directions are identified.

Coral-reef records of Quaternary changes in climate and sea-level

“…There is a clear antithesis in late Pleistocene deposits between those formed in warm interglacial periods, characterized by higher sea-levels and by reef accretion, and those representing cooler glacial intervals that reflect low sea-levels and (generally) subaerial erosion of existing dominant reef forms (Braithwaite, 1984;Braithwaite et al, 1973Braithwaite et al, , 2004Braithwaite and Montaggioni, 2009;Camoin and Webster, 2015). Although growth may continue during glacial periods, as parts of lowstand systems tracts (Zinke et al, 2001a(Zinke et al, , 2003Camoin et al, 2001;Braithwaite and Camoin, 2011), the resulting reefs are typically independent of highstand reefs and commonly do not form part of the same depositional sequences.…”

Holocene and Pleistocene fringing reef growth and the role of accommodation space and exposure to waves and currents (Bora Bora, Society Islands, French Polynesia)

“…Progradation due to a decrease in accommodation space appears to be a very common feature of fringing reef development. As relative sea‐level rise both in the Indo‐Pacific (transgressive–regressive) and the western Atlantic (transgressive) exhibits mid to late Holocene deceleration (Woodroffe & Webster, ; Camoin & Webster, ; and references therein), accommodation space has been decreasing in time and causing lateral reef accretion. Fringing reef development on the Queensland shelf behind the Great Barrier Reef has received significant attention (Kennedy & Woodroffe, ; Smithers et al ., ; and references therein).…”

Depositional environments of well‐sorted detrital limestone from the Minatogawa Formation in the southern part of Okinawa Island, the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan

“…Quaternary reef deposits are excellent archives of relative sea‐level changes, regional tectonic movements, and changes in paleoclimate and paleoceanography (Camoin & Webster, ; Montaggioni, ; Woodroffe & Webster, ). In the northwest Pacific, Pleistocene reef‐complex deposits and associated non‐marine siliciclastic deposits are distributed widely throughout most of the central and southern islands of the Ryukyu Archipelago (Ryukyus; Figure a) (Iryu, Nakamori, & Yamada, ; Iryu et al, ; Nakamori, ; Nakamori, Iryu, & Yamada, ; Sagawa, Nakamori, & Iryu, ).…”