[Coral-List] large reef system off the mouth of the Amazon river

[Douglas Fenner]

Massive coral reef discovered in the Amazon River

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/23/world/amazon-river-coral-reef-irpt/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Scientists astonished by huge coral reef found in the Amazon

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/scientists-astonished-by-huge-coral-reef-found-amazon-1556420?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=rss&utm_content=%2Frss%2Fyahoous%2Fnews

Reef larger than Delaware found at the mouth of the Amazon river

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/23/475414805/reef-larger-than-delaware-found-at-the-mouth-of-the-amazon-river

All 3 above are open-access.  The reefs are on the continental shelf, in
the area where the Amazon empties into the Atlantic.  They are NOT IN the
river.  There are areas that have carbonate buildups, some extend upward as
far as 30 m from the bottom.  The carbonate sampled from the surface of the
bottom was mostly built by organisms other than coral.  12 species of coral
were found at low densities and cover.  Sponges and rhodoliths are the most
common components of the biological community and the authors referred to
these as marginal reef systems.  None of the popular stories above point
out that since fresh water floats and these reefs are on the bottom, so the
reefs are actually in saltwater.  They do get a lot of sediment and have
low light levels due to sediment, it appears.  If you look at the map, it
is indeed a system of many reefs, not a single reef as some of the
headlines seem to suggest (just as the "Great Barrier Reef" is a system of
a couple thousand or so individual reefs, not a single reef).

The original article is:

An extensive reef system at the Amazon River mouth.

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/4/e1501252

open access

Cheers,  Doug


-- 
Douglas Fenner
Contractor for NOAA NMFS, and consultant
"have regulator, will travel"
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA

phone 1 684 622-7084

Join the International Society for Reef Studies.  Membership includes a
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Earth's hot streak continues for a record 11 months.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/earths-hot-streak-continues-record-152700358.html

Solar can power more than 100 times America's current electricity needs, a
new report finds

http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/news-and-blogs/solar-can-power-more-than-100-times-americas-current-electricity-needs-new-report-finds

website:  http://independent.academia.edu/DouglasFenner

blog: http://ocean.si.edu/blog/reefs-american-samoa-story-hope


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