Coral Reef Geomorphology

Overview

The Coral Reef Geomorphology group investigates the ecology and geomorphology of tropical coastlines, coral reef systems and reef carbonate sedimentary deposits (e.g., reef islands). Coral reefs in Southeast Asia support high biodiversity and are a physical barrier to wave energy, protecting shorelines and infrastructure during storm events. Human activities have radically altered living coral populations and their environments from those that originally formed reefs. There is an absence of scientific data from the region, which makes it challenging to predict how stressed reef systems will continue to grow and respond to climate change.

We use multiscale ecological and geological datasets to understand how coral reef degradation has affected coastal resilience across Southeast Asia. We examine the eco-geological functions of coral reefs, including:

• Holocene growth histories and paleoecology of coral reefs
• Carbonate and sediment budgets of reefs systems
• Reef island geomorphology and hydrodynamics
• Predictive reef growth modelling
• Artificial reef design and experimentation 
• Turbid coral reef ecology and geomorphology
• Atoll reef dynamics