International Association of Geomorphologists Working Group
REEForm: Reef and reef landform responses to climatic and environmental change
2012 Annual Report
The following provides a summary of REEForm’s research activities and key outputs during 2012.
Activities during 2012:
1. Field research activities.
Reef growth and island geomorphology, northern Great Barrier Reef, June/July 2012.
Participants: Chris Perry (University of Exeter, UK), Paul Kench (University of Auckland, NZ), Scott Smithers
and James Daniell (James Cook University, Australia), and Bernhard Riegl (Nova Southern University).
Building upon the science priority areas identified at the REEForm Working Group meeting in 2010, and on
the expedition to examine reef island geomorphology in The Maldives in 2011, an expedition was organised
to the northern areas of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) in June/July 2012. The focus of the trip was to
develop an improved understanding of the low wooded islands in the region, and to examine the relationships
between the timing of island development and that of the underlying reef platforms. The initial aim of the trip
was to examine a number of different low wooded island sites that varied in terms of their spatial extent and
proportional coverage of the reef platforms on which they develop.
Unfortunately detrimental weather conditions limited both the focus of sites to those closer to the mainland
and the number of sites that could be examined. The result of this was a more prolonged study of Pipon Reef
close to Princess Charlotte Bay and a brief examination and sampling campaign on Ingham Reef. At Pipon
Reef the research team collected a wide range of data including: the mapping of key reef island landform
features, the recovery of both reef platform top and island cores; data on cross platform bathymetry, and
platform top and island sediment samples. At Ingham Reef time permitted only the mapping of the island and
recovery of two main island cores. It was a very rough boat journey back to Cairns over 4 days!
Subsequent funding for AMS radiocarbon dating to determine the timing of reef platform development has
been secured from the Natural Environment Research Council (UK), and this work is on-going.
Reef carbonate budget studies, Grand Cayman, March 2012.
Participants: Chris Perry and Gary Murphy (University of Exeter, UK), Paul Kench (University of Auckland,
NZ).
Several member of the REEForm WG, including PhD student Gary Murphy, completed the final phase of
fieldwork for a UK Leverhulme Trust funded project which is developing field census-based methodologies to
assess rates of reef framework production at a range of Caribbean sites. This latest phase of field data
collection was conducted at a number of sites around Grand Cayman. This work was supported by the
Cayman Islands Environmental Department. A paper based on the work this project has generated is
forthcoming in Nature Communications “Caribbean-wide decline in carbonate production threatens coral reef
growth” (Feb 2013).
2. Conference activity
Scott Smithers, Chris Perry and Paul Kench organised a thematic session at the 12th International Coral
Reef Symposium in Cairns in July 2012. The session theme was on reef and reef island responses to
environmental change, and comprised 16 oral research presentations from a host of international research
groups. A special issue, based on this session, is currently being prepared for the journal Geomorphology.
3. Relevant published outputs by group members in 2012
Browne N, Smithers S.G., Perry, C.T. (2012) Coral reefs of the turbid inner Great Barrier Reef: a geological
perspective on occurrence, composition and growth. Earth-Science Reviews. 115: 1-20.
Perry C.T., Edinger E.N., Kench, P.S., Mumby P.J., Murphy G., Steneck, R.S. and Smithers S.G. (2012)
Estimating rates of biologically driven coral reef framework production and erosion: a new census-based
carbonate budget methodology and applications to the reefs of Bonaire. Coral Reefs. 31: 853-868
Perry C.T., Smithers S.G., Gulliver P. and Browne N. (2012) Evidence of very rapid reef accretion and reef
growth under high turbidity and terrigenous sedimentation. Geology 40: 719-722.
Yamano H., Sugihara K., Watanabe T., Shimamura M, and Hyeong K. (2012) Coral reefs at 34°N, Japan:
Exploring the end of environmental gradients. Geology 40: 835-838.
Kench, P.S., Smithers, S.G. and McLean, R.F. (2012) Rapid reef island formation and stability over an
emerging reef flat: Bewick Cay, northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Geology. 40: 347-350.
4. Future activities
In line with the original plans for the REEForm WG the following future activities are currently underway/are
being planned
- The organisation of a thematic session at the 2013 International Association of Geomorphologists meeting
in Paris, August 2013.
- The completion of a special issue of Geomorphology.
- A REEForm research expedition to the Maldives (April 2013).
Chris Perry, Paul Kench & Scott Smithers January 2013