HR: 1340h
AN: ED13E-0754    [Abstracts]
TI: ReefGrow v2.0: A classroom tool for visualizing the processes controlling coral reef development and demise
AU: * Chase, A C
EM: achase@mbari.org
AF: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039 United States
AU: Clague, D
EM: clague@mbari.org
AF: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039 United States
AU: Webster, J
EM: jwebster@mbari.org
AF: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039 United States
AU: Berger, W
EM: wberger@ucsd.edu
AF: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0220 United States
AU: Schramm, R
EM: rich@mbari.org
AF: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039 United States
AU: Winterer, J
EM: jwinterer@ucsd.edu
AF: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0220 United States
AB: Understanding the complex interplay between coral reef growth, sea-level variations and tectonics is a major challenge in paleoclimate research. A continuing challenge for students is how to visualize the complex interplay of different geological processes through time. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) has developed ReefGrow v2.0, a Java-based program that numerically models and displays coral reef growth in 2D. The program was developed initially as a research tool but has educational applications as well. Based on straightforward mathematical algorithms, ReefGrow v2.0, realistically "grows" reefs in response to different variables (including subsidence or uplift rate, coral growth rate, sedimentation rate, dissolution rate when the reef is subaerially exposed). The program can import a bathymetric profile to use as the substrate, can import different sea level curves, and can vary the subsidence, or uplift, rates as a function of distance from the shoreline. A major strength of ReefGrow v2.0 is its simple graphical interface, allowing variables to be changed and their impacts on reef development readily assessed. Students are able to view the models' output in the form of a dynamic 2D cross section that steps forward or back through time. To illustrate its use, we applied ReefGrow v2.0 to a "real world" situation using published data from drowned fossil coral reefs that grew on the subsiding flanks of Hawaii over the last 500 ka. ReefGrow v.2.0 was able to realistically model the number and morphology of the reef terraces. The models can be used to constrain the timing of coral reef drowning, the rate and shape of island subsidence, the timing of subaerial exposure of each reef, and the rate of coral growth required to mimic the morphology of the reef. The cross section shows the internal structure of the reef. The program can also be used to forward model reef growth in response to future climate change that causes sea-level rise, or decreased growth rates related to higher sea surface temperatures. ReefGrow v2.0 and accompanying information is accessible through the MBARI web pages at: http://www.mbari.org/volcanism/Hawaii/HR-ReefGrow.htm
UR: http://www.mbari.org/volcanism/Hawaii/HR-ReefGrow.htm
DE: 8168 Stresses--general
DE: 8499 General or miscellaneous
DE: 4556 Sea level variations
DE: 0805 Elementary and secondary education
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting