Reef-Platform Coral Boulders: Evidence for High-Energy Marine Inundation Events on Tropical Coastlines

ISBN-13: 9789814451321 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 105 str.

James Terry; Annie Lau; Samuel Etienne

Opis

The primary goal here is to present a treatise on the significance and value of coarse clastic carbonate sediments (i.e. large coral boulders) on tropical coastlines for understanding both modern and pre-historical (Holocene) high-magnitude marine inundation events. There has been a rapid groundswell of interest in large carbonate blocks on tropical coasts over the last decade, yet it is not widely appreciated that such features were observed and recorded back in the early explorations of Matthew Flinders on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1800s. This book will illuminate how various characteristics of datable carbonate blocks torn up from coral reefs and deposited on reef platforms yield importance evidence about the storms and tsunamis that emplaced them over decadal and centennial timescales. No comprehensive review has so far been published. A need now exists for a 'definitive reference' on coral boulder research, which details the earliest observations, changing terminology, sedimentology, and relevance for coastal hazard research in the tropics. A wide range of examples will be incorporated from across Asia, Australia, the Pacific and the Americas, as well as a full up-to-date review of the existing literature.

Spis treści

Preface
Acknowledgements

Chapter 1  Coastal Boulders: Introduction and Scope
1.1 Types of Coastal Boulders
1.2  Association with High-Energy Marine Inundation
1.3  Rationale for This Book
1.4  References 

Chapter 2 Historical Review and Changing Terminology 
 2.1 Named Coastal Landmarks 
 2.2  Earliest Scientific Observations of Coral Boulders
 • Box 1.  Matthew Flinders’ Observations of Coral Boulders on the Great Barrier Reef in 1802
2.3 The Eruption of Krakatau Volcano in 1883
2.4  Reef Remnants versus Storm Deposits: Competing Ideas, Early 1900s
2.5 Varying Expressions for Coral Boulders
2.6  Perspectives on Sediment Clast Size
2.7  References 

Chapter 3 The Scientific Value of Reef-Platform Boulders for Interpreting Coastal Hazards
3.1  Introduction
3.2  Coastal Sedimentology Within Marine Inundation Research
3.3  Wave Energy Estimation
3.3.1  Boulder Transport Equations
• Box2. Hydrodynamic Equations for Coastal Boulder Transport (Nott, 2003)
• Box 3.  Revised Hydrodynamic Equations  (Nandasena et al., 2011)
• Box4. Boulder Displacement: Equations for Estimating Minimum Current Velocity and Wave Height (Frohlich et al., 2011)
3.3.2 Assumptions and Difficulties
3.4    Inundation Direction
3.5    Boulder Mapping
3.6    Dating Prehistorical Marine Inundations
3.6.1  Boulder Age-Dating
3.6.2   Obstacles to Accurate Dating
3.7       References 

Chapter 4  Uncertainties and Continuing Challenges with Interpreting Coastal Boulders     

4.1 Introduction
4.2 Mechanisms of Coral Boulder Generation
4.3  Identifying Original Sources for Carbonate Boulders on Reefs
4.4  ‘Anthropogenic Boulders’: Advantages of Studying Boulders Sourced from Rip-Rap
4.5  Distinguishing Between Storm and Tsunami Boulders
• Box 5: Equation to Distinguish Storm from Tsunami Boulders (Lorang, 2011)
4.6 Undetectable Marine Inundation Events
4.7  Boulder Reworking by Backwash or Subsequent Events
4.8  Longevity of Boulders
4.9  Issues with Data Collection and Presentation
4.9.1 Volumetric Calculations4.9.2  Inconsistent Data
• Box 6: Nature of Boulder Data
4.10  References 

Chapter 5  Case Study: Coastal Boulder Fields on Taveuni Island Coasts, Fiji
5.1 Introduction and Aims
5.2 Background to the Study Area
5.3  Features of Tropical Cyclone Tomas, March 2010
5.4  Field Procedures and Observations
5.5  Results and Discussion
5.3  Boulder Quarrying and Remobilisation
5.4  Transport Mechanisms and Flow Velocities
5.5   Caveats to Findings
5.6   Conclusions
5.7   References 

Chapter 6  Outlook for Boulder Studies Within Tropical Geomorphology and Coastal Research
6.1  Brief Summary: Current Understanding, Guiding Questions
6.2  Future Prospects and Recommendations
6.3  References

O autorze

James Terry received his BSc (Hons) (1988) and PhD (1992) from the University of Wales at Swansea in the UK.  Currently he is Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore, since 2008.  Before that he served as Head of the School of Geography at the University of the South Pacific based in Fiji, where he worked for 12 years in total from 1996-2008.  Being a Physical Geographer, James has specialist interests in tropical geomorphology, natural hazards and island geoscience.  He has over 20 years of research and consulting experience across many aspects of tropical environments, including climatic change and extremes, fluvial and coastal responses to large-magnitude events, water resource issues, and adaptation to natural hazards.