[Coral-List] A new book of interest to coral researchers

[Eugene Shinn]

Those interested in coral banding (Sclerochronology) will also be aware 
of Dendrochronology, the study of annual tree rings. Back when we 
established the USGS field station on Fisher Island in 1974, one of our 
first priorities included a study of coral growth bands. Using our newly 
developed diver-operated coring device and X-ray photography equipment 
we determined the timing and demise of massive /Montastrea /sp. Corals 
at Hens and Chickens reef. Many huge /Montastrea sp/ heads had been 
killed there by a severe cold front during the winter of 1969/1970. 
Those heads that survived developed a unique marker band. Harold Hudson 
spearheaded that “first of its kind” study. He prepared a paper for 
SCIENCE magazine that was subsequently rejected. Reviewers claimed the 
annual nature of coral growth bands had not been proven. We later 
published in Geology (see reference below) Coral-List readers now know 
that coral growth bands are annual events. Back then we were aware of 
tree rings but they were beyond our field of study. Now fortunately, 
Johns Hopkins University Press has published a highly readable 
interesting book titled TREE STORY, /the history of the world written in 
tree rings/, by Valerie Trouet. Coral researchers will appreciate and 
enjoy reading her history of tree ring studies and the lengthy climate 
history they reveal. Whereas the largest /Montastrea sp/. cored in the 
Florida Keys by Hudson and Robert Halley was a little over 400 years 
old. In comparison some tree rings of Bristle Cone Pines go back at 
least 8,000 years. Nevertheless much was learned from our 400-year old 
coral core. Dr. Ellen Druffel’s dissertation based on study of that core 
revealed radioactivity from atmospheric atomic tests in the 1950s. Now a 
radiograph of annual bands in that core can be viewed in the Florida 
State Fossil Reef Park at Windley Key in the Florida Keys. In addition, 
a slice of the full length of the actual core is on display at the 
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Museum in Key West, Florida. We 
can thank both Harold Hudson and Bill Precht for making us all aware of 
the TREE STORY book. I predict readers of the book will think of many 
new studies that can be conducted on coral growth bands. Gene

Reference: Hudson, J.H., Shinn, E.A., Halley, R.B., and Lidz, B., 1976, 
Sclerochronology—A tool for interpreting past environments: Geology, v. 
4, p. 361-364.