Discussions and Writings on Coral Reefs

Darwin was impressed by the personal effects earthquakes could have on the land surface, especially after he had witnessed first hand the effects of the 1835 earthquake in Concepcion, Chile, and famous how the neighboring rimline had risen ten feet rom its original level, resulting in elevated beaches above sea level along the coast (Bowler, 158). Using Lyell=s opening of the gradual elevation of land, Darwin substantial a system of coral reef organization found on the gradual subsidence of the floor of the Pacific Ocean.

coral is formed by minute sea creatures who can precisely exist in shallow waters. red corals solitary(prenominal) grow in warm, clear, shallow, salty waters of tropical seas and oceans (Science Weekly). Darwin=s theory of the formation of coral reefs was that they were formed only in areas where the land was subsiding, because only under these conditions could elephantine masses of coral build up. Coral reefs are produced by small animals know as corals. As corals grow, they secrete calcareous materials which act as a stomach and protection for the animal. Over time, these deposits from thousands of individual animals form the large structures known as coral reefs (Ridley, 28). Darwin=s t

Darwin had a wealth of factual knowledge at his tendency when discussing and writing his treatise on coral reef formation. Most of the overriding theories of the time could be dismiss by finding at existing coral fringes, barriers, and atolls. Their distribution ruled out the surmisal that they were built on volcanic cones, accumulations of sediment, or submerged nap peaks because of the distribution of the various reef fictional characters with no signs of whatsoever survey peaks or volcanic cones piercing the surface of the oceans, or any signs of enough sediment to amass in the Pacific and Indian oceans to form a basis on which the coral could grow.

Darwin did long reading to prove his theory of coral reefs (Ridley, 29). To test his theory fully, he needed convincing proof concerning subsidence.

One counsel to test this was to look at circumstantial evidence, and another was to look at the geographical distribution of the three types of formations he had described. remittal could be expected to take organise over a substantial area, and the different types of reefs should be found in large clusters of the same type in one area if his theory was correct. By examining maps, he found the evidence fitted his theory. Since subsidence takes place very slowly over an extended period of time, Darwin was uneffective to conduct direct observation of the phenomenon. He had to rely on observations of others which had accumulated by the time he developed his occupy in coral reefs.

Newell, N. D. The Evolution of Reefs. Scientific American 226 (1972): 54-65.

Darwin dismissed this theory. He did not believe that it could account for the variety of shapes of atolls. He divided coral formations into three types: fringing reefs, barrier reefs, and atolls (Ridley, 29). He reason out that a reef gradually changed shape from one type to the next if it sank relative to the sea level. He defined a fringing reef as a reef around the beach of an island; a barrier reef as one a
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