[Coral-List] Area of soft-bottom sediments within coral reef ecosystems

[Sam Purkis]

Hi Cassian,

We have worked on issues such as you describe using remote sensing in the 
Arabian Gulf. The work considers the prevalence of different facies units 
in the reef landscape, as well as their complexity and spatial arrangement. 
To a degree, it appears that these properties of the reefscape are 
predictable through the existence of scaling-laws.

The article below may be of interest:

Purkis SJ, Riegl B, Andréfouët S (2005) Remote sensing of geomorphology and 
facies patterns on a modern carbonate ramp (Arabian Gulf, Dubai, U.A.E.). 
Journal of Sedimentary Research 75:861-876
A pdf is available here: 
http://www.nova.edu/~purkis/papers/Purkis-etal-JSR-2005.pdf

Sam

Sam Purkis, PhD
National Coral Reef Institute (Asst. Professor)
Oceanographic Center
Nova Southeastern University
8000 N. Ocean Drive, Dania
FL 33004
USA

(954) 262-3647 (phone office)
(954) 927-1593 (phone home)
(954) 600-9983 (mobile)
(954) 262-4098 fax
http://www.nova.edu/~purkis



>Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:48:16 +0100
>From: "Cassian Edwards" <c.edwards at qmul.ac.uk>
>Subject: [Coral-List] Area of soft-bottom sediments within coral reef
>         ecosystems
>To: <Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>Message-ID: <20070718144823.EF1E1179D5 at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
>
>Dear Coral-Listers
>
>I am trying to find figures for the area occupied by soft-bottom sediments
>contained within coral reef ecosystems.
>
>For the Great Barrier Reef, from Furnas et al (1995), I have:
>"Reef flat and shallow (<5 m) sand areas are taken as 18 and 33 percent of
>total reef area based upon analysis of LANDSAT MSS imagery".
>
>If anyone could offer any other similar figures for any reef/system I would
>be grateful.
>
>Many thanks,
>
>Cassian Edwards
>--
>Furnas, M, A. W. Mitchell and M. Skuza. 1995. Nitrogen and phosphorus
>budgets for the central Great Barrier Reef shelf, Great Barrier Reef Park
>Authority, 194 pp.
>http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/2654/rp36_study_area.pd
>f
>
>--
>
>Cassian Edwards
>School of Biological and Chemical Sciences
>Queen Mary - University of London
>Mile End Road
>London
>E1 4NS
>
>c.edwards at qmul.ac.uk
>