Facies models of a shallow-water carbonate ramp based on distribution of non-skeletal grains (Kimmeridgian,Spain)

The internal facies and sequence architecture of a Late Jurassic (Late Kimmeridgian) shallow carbonate ramp was reconstructed after the analysis and correlation of 17 logs located south of Teruel (northeast Spain). The studied rocks are arranged in five high-frequency sequences A–E (5–26 m thick) bounded by discontinuities traceable across the entire study area (20 × 25 km). Facies analysis across these sequences resulted in the reconstruction of three sedimentary models showing the transition from interior ramp environments (i.e., lagoon, backshoal, and shoal) to the progressively deeper foreshoal and offshore areas. Coral-microbial reefs (meter-sized patch and pinnacle reefs) have a variable development throughout the sequences, mostly in the foreshoal and offshore-proximal environments. The preferential occurrence and down-dip gradation of non-skeletal carbonate grains has been evaluated across the three models: low-energy peloidal-dominated, intermittent high-energy oolitic-dominated and high-energy oolitic–oncolitic dominated. The predominance of these non-skeletal grains in the shoal facies was mainly controlled by the hydrodynamic conditions and spatial heterogeneity of terrigenous input. The models illustrate particular cases of down-dip size-decrease of the resedimented grains (ooids, peloids, oncoids) due to storm-induced density flows. Offshore coarsening of certain particles (intraclasts, oncoids) is locally observed in the mid-ramp areas favorable for microbial activity, involving coral-microbial reef and oncoid development. The observed facies variations can be applicable to carbonate platforms including similar non-skeletal components, where outcrop conditions make the recognition of their three-dimensional distribution difficult.     

Ordovician reefs of the Ural Mountains,Russia: A review

Summary The Upper Ordovician reefs of the Urals were formed at a subsiding shelf-margin during an early Late Ashgillian (Sur’ya time interval) regressive phase. Reefs of this age were studied in detail from the western slope of the Northern, the Subpolar and the Polar Urals with respect to lithofacies, biotic composition and paleogeographical patterns. The thickness of the reefs varies between 100 and 500 m. The backreef areas are characterized by lagoons with increased salinity and sabkha development. Microbial associations and a diverse algal flora (Cyanophyta, green and red algae and alga incertae sedis) are the main constituents of reefal boundstones. Tabulate and rugose corals, heliolitids, calcareous sponge-like fossils, bryozoans and problematic hydroids were also part of the reef communities. Each reef exhibits a characteristic framework-building association. Reef development was terminated by a rapid and abrupt sea-level rise at the end of the middle Upper Ashgillian connected with the global Late Ordovician glaciation.     

塔里木板块塔中区上奥陶统良里塔格组的生物礁类型

塔里木板块塔中Ⅰ号坡折带附近上奥陶统良里塔格组取芯井段中可识别多种生物礁灰岩类型,包括珊瑚骨架/障积岩、海绵骨架/绑结岩、苔藓虫绑结岩、钙藻障积岩、钙质菌藻障积/绑结岩等礁灰岩类,藉此可归纳出珊瑚礁、珊瑚-钙藻礁、层孔虫礁、层孔虫-钙藻礁、珊瑚-层孔虫-钙藻礁、苔藓虫礁丘、钙藻礁丘、灰泥丘和微生物礁等生物建造单元。这些礁体的时空分布模式与古环境分异相关联,纵向上具有灰泥丘向珊瑚-层孔虫-钙藻礁至苔藓虫礁丘和钙藻礁的群落结构更替趋势;空间分布则向台地北缘,即I号坡折带延伸显示由低能带灰泥丘向高能带珊瑚-层孔虫-钙藻礁的相变,而且高能带珊瑚-层孔虫-钙藻主体礁和环其周缘相对低能带的钙藻礁丘、灰泥丘等在一定范围内构成造礁群落结构分异。     

Biotic structure and morphology of patch reefs from South China (Ningqiang Formation, Telychian, Llandovery, Silurian)

Summary Ningqiang Formation (late Telychian, Llandovery, Silurian), characterized by nearly 3000 m of shales in tercalated with carbonates, is situated between Ningqiang (S. Shaanxi Province) to Guangyuan (N. Sichuan Province) adjacent to the northwest margin of the Yangtze Platform. The high diversity “Xiushan Fauna”, and abundant reef development, illustrate a relatively warm and persistent shallo marine environment in these early Silurian sediments. The sequence shows reef radiation after recovery from the end Ordovician mass extinction envents. Multiple horizons of reef-building occurred within a relatively short geological interval and resulted in more than 30patch reefs up to 200 m in diameter and 1–50 m vertically, composed of abundant fossils. Reef biota include frame-building corals, stromatoporoids, bryozoans, and microbialites, and reef-associated oranisms such as crinoids, brachiopods, trilobites, gastropods, nautiloids and ostracods. Three reefrelated biotic associations are recognised: a) reefs dominated by framework with crinoids and microbia; b) reefs dominated by only crinoids and microbia; and c) crinoiddomainated facies. Seven representative reef examples illustrate different morphologies and growth styles. A high terrigenous debris input and shallow epicontinental ramp, which lacked obvious topographic variation, were major controls which resulted in rather simple reefs; sedimentation was apparently the main constraint on lateral and vertical extension of reefs, and prevented large-scale reef complexes developing.     

塔中16井区晚奥陶世良里塔格组的沉积相

塔里木板块中央隆起区的塔中低隆带上奥陶统凯迪阶良里塔格组礁相群落是晚奥陶世生物礁演化阶段的例证。该组分为5个岩性段。塔中16井区位于塔中Ⅰ号断裂坡折带向台地内部延伸的缓坡区,海水深度和水流能量显著控制碳酸盐岩的岩相分布。良里塔格组所赋存的典型动物格架礁集中于台地边缘的高能区,而塔中16井区不属于大型动物格架礁建造的富集区域,其早期多以低能带沉积为主,特别是塔中16井和塔中166井灰泥坪常见;晚期常见高能滩相和灰泥丘以及近礁沉积,可划归为台缘坡折带大型格架礁建造向台内的延伸区,这里的水深和能量变化更频繁。偏西北的井在良二段沉积之后抬升较早,东南的塔中161井则保存部分良一段沉积。     

新疆塔里木塔中井区上奥陶统良里塔格组的生物绑结岩

塔里木板块塔中井区上奥陶统凯迪阶良里塔格组灰岩中底栖固着型的钙质微生物、钙藻以及动物苔藓虫、珊瑚、层孔虫,可通过障积、盖覆和粘结等方式形成多种类型的生物绑结岩。对15口井部分岩芯以常用的绑结岩分类方案作岩石学微相分析,并描记底栖固着型生物颗粒的形成特征。菌藻类可在内碎屑表面以包结方式形成粘结岩;钙藻,特别是分枝状钙藻可形成障积岩;层孔虫可被隐藻层纹包结,也可单独形成小型盖覆岩;床板珊瑚格架岩可大量障积生屑和灰泥基质;苔藓虫在动物格架岩比例上占优,可与菌藻类粘结岩互相包结生长,也可独立形成局部小型障积岩。对比巴楚露头区同期藻丘中的绑结岩特征,显示塔中良里塔格组代表晚奥陶世由高生物多样性形成的礁滩复合体生态群落。     

广西、贵州和川东二叠纪生物礁的钙藻化石及其古生态环境

广西,贵州和川东二叠纪礁相岩石和礁后相岩层内获得了红藻Solenoporella,Gymnocodium,Permocalcu-lus;绿藻Anthracoporella,Mizzia以及显微疑难藻类化石Pseudovermiporella,Tubiphytes等,除了广西隆林有中二叠世茅口期藻类化石外,其它均属于晚二叠世乐平世的分子,这些藻类植物一般生活于热带和亚热带,正常盐度的浅海水内,其水深不大于30m,川东,鄂西晚二叠世礁属于浅水海绵礁,而非深水礁。     

The Cassian patch reefs (lower Carnian,southern Alps)

The fauna of the upper Cassian Formation is composed mainly of reef-building and reef-dwelling organisms which occur as reeeposited material in basinal sediments, but have not been found as original reef bodies. Such bodies have now been discovered in the uppermost Cassian Formation of the central Dolomites from the Sella Group in the west to the Monti Cadini in the east. Generally they are small-scale patch reefs, not exceeding a few metres in thickness and lateral extent, which are intercalated in well-bedded detrital and micritic limestones. locally, larger biostromes spread out from the margins of the Cassian Dolomite buildups. Four types of faunal communities have been encountered in these reefs:

1. The thrombolite-calcareous algae community, composed of small patchy cryptalgal structures binding poorly sorted debris and associated with other Cyanophyta, sessile formainifera and scattered calcareous sponges and corals. This type is the most common within the calcareous and marly-tuffaceous facies of the Cassian Formation.
2. The calcareous sponge-coral community, composed mostly of calcareous sponges (stromatoporoids, some pharetronids) and, to a lesser extent, colonial corals and thrombolites. This community corre-sponds well to the Cassian reef fauna, best known from erratic blocks at Alpe di Specie, but has been found in situ only at one locality.
3. The Spongiomorpha-Solenopora community, associated with scattered calcareous sponges and colonial corals, forming a thin biostrome at one locality.
4. Coral communities, composed predominantly of colonial Scleractinia; found only in small or stratigraphically illdefined outcrops and in erratic blocks.

The Cassian patch reefs and biostromes mark the end of a basinal evolution which began in the Lower Ladinian, and the onset of newly expanding carbonate buildups of Cassian Dolomite. These buildups and the sponge-coral patch reefs might have been the source for the allochthonous reef fauna of the Cassian Formation which interfingers with both shallow water environments.     

Late Triassic reefs from the Northwest and South Tethys: distribution, setting, and biotic composition

The paleolatitudinal distribution patterns during Ladinian and Carnian time are characterized by an increasing expansion of reefs from the northern to the southern hemisphere. The optimum of reef diversity and frequency in the Norian is associated with the development of extended attached or isolated carbonate platforms. Norian-Rhaetian sponge and coral reefs of the Northern Calcareous Alps developed (1) as reef belt composed of patch reefs in platform-edge positions facing the open-marine northwestern Tethys basins and (2) as patch reefs in intraplatform basins as well as in ramp positions.Carnian and Norian-Rhaetian sponge and coral reefs of the Arabian Peninsula are formed (1) as reef complexes at the margins of carbonate platforms on the tops of volcanic seamounts in the southern Tethyan ocean, as small biostromes on these isolated platforms, and (2) as transgressive reef complexes on the attached platform of the Gondwana margin. The Norian Gosaukamm reefal breccia of the NW Tethys is a counterpart of Jabal Wasa reefal limestone of the Gondwana margin with similarities in geological setting and biotic composition. Rhaetian coral biostromes of low diversity known from the Austrian Koessen basin resemble to the time equivalent Ala biostromes of the isolated Kawr platform in the southern Neo-Tethys by forming a discontinuous layer in shallow intraplatform basin setting.     

Oldest scleractinian coral reefs on the North American craton: Upper Triassic (Carnian), northeastern British Columbia,Canada

Bioclastic accumulations composed of crinoids, brachiopods, molluscs, spongiomorphs and scleractinian corals occur within Upper Triassic strata of the lower Baldonnel Formation at Pardonet Hill in northeastern British Columbia Canada. These small buildups (∼100 to 500 m³) have planar bases and broadly convex tops. These mounds are interpreted as small patch reefs composed of packstone, bioclastic floatstone/rudstone and carbonate breccia intercalated with mixed siliciclastic carbonate sediments deposited in a shallow subtidal setting (i.e. above fairweather wave base). Amalgamated hummocky cross-stratified to current ripple-laminated, quartz-dominated sandstone beds and numerous sharp-based, normally graded bioclastic (commonly encrinitic) packstone/grainstone — quartz–sandstone couplets characterize inter-reef lithologies.Conodont biostratigraphy indicates that the Pardonet Hill patch reefs occur within strata dated as earliest Upper Carnian (lower nodosus zone). The Pardonet Hill patch reefs originated and developed during an interval of regional sea level lowstand. Strata within which these patch reefs occur represent the westernmost migration of the Triassic shoreline in western Canada. Disappearance of coral reefs in the study area may have been affected by rapid marine transgression and failure of reef faunas to recolonize the new shore zone further to the east.The Pardonet Hill locality occurred on the western margin of the North American craton during the Triassic. Prior to their discovery reef-like structures dominated by corals in the western Panthalassa were limited to allochthonous terranes (now part of the Cordillera). The Pardonet Hill patch reefs occur at approximately 30° Triassic paleolatitude. In modern settings, this is at the extreme latitudinal margin of subtropical zooxanthellate reef development. The presence of benthic faunas characteristic of low-paleolatitude settings on the northwestern coast of Pangea has significant implications in paleotectonic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions.     

Reef reconstruction after extinction events of the latest ordovician in the Yangtze platform,South China

Summary Early Silurian reef reconstruction on the Yangtze Platform, in the northern part of the South China Block, is preceded by a combination of regional and global processes. During most of Ashgill time (Late Ordovician), the area was dominated by Wufeng Formation deep water graptolitic black shales. Reefs largely disappeard in the middle of the Ashgill Stage, from the northwestern margin of Cathaysian Land (southeastern South China Block), in advance of the Late Ordovician glaciation and mass extinction, due to regional sea-level changes and regional uplift, unrelated to the mass extinction itselt. Late Ordovician microbial mudmound occurrence is also found in the western margin of the Yangtze Platform, its age corresponding to theDicellograptus complexus graptolite biozone of pre-extinction time. On the Yangtze Platform, a thin, non-reef-bearing carbonate, the Kuanyinchiao Formation (=Nancheng Formation in some sites), thickness generally no more than 1m, occurs near several landmasses as a result of Hirnantian regression. Reappearance of the earliest Silurian carbonates consisting of rare skeletal lenses in the upper part of Lungmachi Formation, are correlated to theacensus graptolite biozone, early Rhuddanian of Shiqian, northeastern Guizhou, near Qianzhong Land. Carbonate sediments gradually developed into beds rich in brachiopods and crinoids in the lower part of Xiangshuyuan Formation, middle Rhuddanian. In the middle part of Xiangshuyan Formation, biostromes, containing abundant and high diversity benthic faunas such as corals, crinoids and brachiopods, show beginnings of reconstruction of reef facies. Substantial reef recovery occurred in the upper part of Xiangshuyuan Formation, lower Aeronian, as small patch reefs and biostromes. During the late Aeronian, carbonate sediments, especially reefs and reef-related facies, expanded on the upper Yangtze Platform, and radiation of reefs occurred in Ningqiang Formation, upper Telychian. The long period of reef recovery, taking several million years, remains difficult to explain, because redistribution of any refugia faunas would be expected to take place soon after the extinction. Reefs and reef-related facies subsequently declined after Telychian time due to regional uplift of the major portion of the Yangtze Platform. Carbonate facies are therefore uncommon in South China during the rest of Silurian time.     

Depth-dependent indicators of algal turf herbivory throughout the Main Hawaiian Islands

Herbivorous fish are key to maintaining a balance between coral and algae on reefs, where reefs with greater herbivore biomass often show lower algal cover. For reefs worldwide, algal turf cover is expanding and is increasingly used as an indicator of disturbance. Water depth affects reef fish composition; thus, it may be expected that herbivory could also differ by depth. We examined relationships between algal turf cover and biomass (g m⁻²), density (# m⁻²) and size (cm) of herbivore groups (grazers, browsers and scrapers) across shallow (< 6 m), mid (6–18 m) and deep (18–30 m) coral reefs in the Main Hawaiian Islands. We find that across all depth classes, algal turf cover decreased with increasing grazer and scraper density, with steeper relationships observed at mid and deep reefs than in shallow reefs. In contrast, algal turf cover slightly increased with increasing grazer and browser biomass at deep reefs. Considering fish size, algal turf cover increased with larger grazer and scrapers at mid and deep reefs. The results indicate that herbivorous fish density, rather than biomass, is a better indicator of reductions in algal turf cover and resulting coral-algal balance on Hawaiian reefs, where smaller fish exert greater top-down control on cover than larger fish. Despite significant differences in herbivorous fish compositions, length-frequency distributions and fishing intensities across depth, algal turf cover remains similar across depths. Increases in fishing would have a disproportionately negative impact in deep than shallow reefs due to a lower overall fish density, where grazing functions in deep reefs are maintained by significantly fewer and smaller grazers and browsers, and larger scrapers, than in shallow reefs. Developing an understanding of patterns of algal turf herbivory by depth is important to understanding the spatial scale at which herbivory and regime shifts operate.

     

Sedimentation on three caribbean atolls: Glovers reef,lighthouse reef and turneffe Islands,belize

Summary The chief mode of carbonate sedimentation on the Belizean atolls Glovers Reef, Lighthouse Reef and Turneffe Islands is the accumulation of organically-derived particles. Variations in the distribution of the composition and grain-sizes of surface sediments, collected along transects across the atolls, are environmentally controlled. Two major sediment types may be distinguished. (1) Reef and fore reef sediments are dominated by fragments of coral, coralline algae andHalimeda. Mean grain-sizes range from 1–2 mm. (2) Back reef sediments contain more mollusk fragments, more fine-grained sediment (<125 μm) and appear to have fewerHalimeda fragments. In addition, sediments from inner platforms and shallow lagoonal parts of Glovers and Lighthouse Reefs comprise non-skeletal grains, namely fecal pellets. Sediments from lagoonal patch reefs may contain up to 20% coral fragments. Mean grain-sizes range from 0.1–1 mm and are finest on the inner platform and lagoon floor of the back reef environment. Within the reef and fore reef environments, it is not possible to distinguish sub-environments on the basis of textural and compositional differences of the sediments. Sediments from patch reefs contrast with those from back reef lagoons and inner platforms and are similar in terms of grain-sizes and compositions to reef and fore reef surface sediments. Non-skeletal grains forming in shallow parts of the back reef in Glovers and Lighthouse Reefs are interpreted to be indurated by interstitial precipitation of calcium carbonate from warm, supersaturated water flushing the sediment. The lack of hardened non-skeletal particles in the back reef sediments of Turneffe Islands is most probably due to the abundance of muddy, organic-rich sediment in the well-protected lagoon. Fine sediment is less permeable and organic films prevent cement overgrowth on particles.     

泥质对志留系礁滩生长的抑制作用:黔北桐梓韩家店组的例证

黔北桐梓的戴家沟剖面和狮溪剖面志留系兰多维列统特列奇阶下部的韩家店组出露完好,该组泥岩、粉砂岩中夹有厚度1—3m、直径4—7m的小型点礁。礁核相多具典型的障积格架岩特征,但生长时限短暂,群落分异度低,仅见床板珊瑚、单体四射珊瑚、苔藓虫和海百合茎,礁间为珊瑚、苔藓虫和海百合茎碎片堆积的滩相,伴生丰富的遗迹化石。在陆源碎屑快速沉积的背景下,浑浊海水频繁的富营养化过程限制了礁体纵横向生长和朝高分异度群落发展的可能性。     

The history of Devonian-Carboniferous reef communities: Extinctions,effects, recovery

Summary Analysis of the taxonomic composition, diversity and guild structure of five “typical” reef and mud mound communities ranging in age from Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous indicates that each of these aspects of community organization changed dramatically in relation to three extinction events. These events include a major or mass extinction at the end of the Frasnian; reef communities were also effected by less drastic end-Givetian and mid-late Famennian extinctions of reef-building higher taxa. Peak Paleozoic generic diversities for reef-building stromatoporoids and rugose corals occurred in the Eifelian-Givetian; reef-building calcareous algal taxa were longranging with peak diversity in the Devonian. These three higher taxa dominated all reef-building guilds (Constructor, Binder, Baffler) in the Frasnian and formed fossil reef communities with balanced guild structures. The extinction of nearly all reef-building stromatoporoids and rugose corals at the end of the Frasnian and the survival of nearly all calcareous algac produced mid-late Famennian reef communities dominated by the Binder Guild. Despite the survival of most calcareous algae and tabulate corals, the mid-late Famennian extinction of all remaining Paleozoic stromatoporoids and nearly all shelf-dwelling Rugosa brought the already diminished Devonian reef-building to a halt. These Devonian extinctions differ from mass extinctions by the absence of a statistically significant drop in taxonomic diversity and by their successional and cumulative effects on reef communities. Tournaisian mud mounds contain communities markedly different from the frame-building communities in Late Devonian and Visean reefs. Mound-building biotas consist of an unusual association dominated by erect, weakly skeletonized members of the Baffler Guild (chiefly fenestrate Bryozoa; Pelmatozoa) and laterally expanded, mud-binding algae/stromatolites and reptant Bryozoa. The initial recovery to reefs with skeletal frameworks in the Visean was largely due to the re-appearance of new species of abundant colonial rugose corals (Constructor Guild) and fenestrate Bryozoa. This Frasnian-Visean evolution in the taxonomic composition and structure of the reef-building guilds is also expressed by abrupt changes in biofacies and petrology of the reef limestones they produced. Thus, “typical” Frasnian reef limestones with balanced guild structures are framestones-boundstones-bafflestones, Famennian reefs are predominantly boundstones, Tournaisian mud mounds are bafflestones and Visean reefs are bafflestones-framestones.     

The impact of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition on the composition of submerged reefs of the Maui Nui Complex,Hawaii

The submarine reef terraces (L1–L12) of the Maui Nui Complex (MNC—the islands of Lanai, Molokai, Maui and Kahoolawe) in Hawaii provide a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of climate and sea level change on coral reef growth by examining changes in reef development through the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (900–800 ka). We present an analysis of the biological and sedimentary composition of the reefs that builds directly on recently published chronological and morphological data. We define nine distinct limestone facies and place them in a spatial and stratigraphic context within 12 reef terraces using ROV and submersible observations. These include oolitic, two coral reef, two coralline algal nodule, algal crust, hemi-pelagic mud, bioclastic and peloidal mud facies. These facies characterise environments from high energy shallow water coral reef crests to low energy non-reefal deep-water settings. Combining the bottom observations and sedimentary facies data, we report a shift in the observed sedimentary facies across the submerged reefs of the MNC from dominant shallow coral reef facies on the deep reefs to coralline algae dominated exposed outcrop morphology on the shallower reefs. We argue that this shift is a reflection of the change in period and amplitude of glacioeustatic sea level cycles (41 kyr and 60–70 m to 100 kyr and 120 m) during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT, ~ 800 ka), coupled with a slowing in the subsidence rate of the complex. The growth of stratigraphically thick coral reef units on the deep Pre-MPT reefs was due to the rapid subsidence of the substrate and the shorter, smaller amplitude sea level cycles allowing re-occupation and coral growth on successive cycle low-stands. Longer, larger amplitude sea level cycles after the MPT combined with greater vertical stability at this time produced conditions conducive to deep-water coralline algae growth which veneered the shallower terraces. Additionally, we compare reef development both within the MNC, and between the MNC and Hawaii. Finally we suggest that climatic forcings such as sea-surface temperature and oceanographic currents may also have influenced the distribution of coral species within the sample suite, e.g., the disappearance of the Acropora genus from the Maui Nui Complex in the Middle Pleistocene.     

The relationship between habitat structure and fish faunas on New Zealand reefs

Reef fish abundances were sampled at 11 shallow reef localities extending over 1000 km of coastline in northern New Zealand. Sampling was restricted to the 4–10-m depth stratum and included six coastal and five island localities. These were either coralline reef flats dominated by echinoids, or algal reefs with high densities of laminarian and fucoid algae. Reefs dominated by macroscopic algae supported large numbers of small fishes, mainly labrids, and few large benthic-feeding fishes. Echinoid-dominated reefs supported a different fish fauna with more large benthic-feeding species. Additional sampling of echinoiddominated reefs and algal stands in deeper water provided confirmation of these findings. A second sampling programme was carried out at a series of eight sites within a single locality covering 5 km of coastline. These spanned a moderate exposure gradient and ranged from algal dominated reefs to typical coralline reef flats with high densities of grazing invertebrates. The relationship between habitat structure and reef fish species composition and size frequency was similar to that of the large-scale sampling programme. Thirdly, observations on reef fish foraging and feeding patterns within a single reef site suggested that larger benthic-feeding reef fishes were less likely to feed within macroscopic algal stands. Experimental reductions of grazing invertebrates designed to produce brown algal stands on echinoid-dominated reef flats supported these observations. Larger individuals capable of removing echinoids and grazing gastropods did not frequent or feed in laminarian and fucoid algal stands. This pattern is discernible at several spatial scales. Our conclusion is that the type of shallow reef habitat, echinoid- as opposed to algal-dominated, will have an important rôle in determining the associated reef fish fauna.     

A modern-type Kimmeridgian reef (Ota Limestone,Portugal): Implications for Jurassic reef models

Upper Jurassic reefs rich in microbial crusts generally appear in deeper (sponge—‘algal’ crust reefs) or in very shallow but protected settings (coral or coral-coralline sponge meadows with ‘algal’ crusts). Upper Jurassic high-energy reefs (coral reefs and coral-stromatoporoid reefs) normally lack major participation of microbial crusts but rather represent huge bioclastic piles with only minor framestone patches preserved. An exception to this rule is represented by the high-energy, coral-‘algal’ Ota Reef from the Kimmeridgian of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal). The narrow Ota Reef tract rims a small intra-basinal carbonate platform exhibiting perfect facies zonation (from W to E: Reef tract, back reef sands, peritidal belt, low-energy shallow lagoon). The reef is dominated by massive corals (Thamnasteria, Microsolena, Stylina). Complete preservation of coral framework is rare: like other Upper Jurassic high-energy reefs, the Ota Reef is very rich in debris; however, this debris is largely stabilized by algal and microbial crusts, what contrasts the other examples and gives the Ota Reef the appearance of a typical modern high-energy coral-melobesioid algal reef. Further similarities to modern reefs are the likely existence of a spur-and-groove system, the perfect sheltering of inner platform areas and the occurrence of small islands, as indicated by local blackenings and early vadose and karstic features.     

Caribbean mesophotic coral ecosystems are unlikely climate change refugia

Deeper coral reefs experience reduced temperatures and light and are often shielded from localized anthropogenic stressors such as pollution and fishing. The deep reef refugia hypothesis posits that light‐dependent stony coral species at deeper depths are buffered from thermal stress and will avoid bleaching‐related mass mortalities caused by increasing sea surface temperatures under climate change. This hypothesis has not been tested because data collection on deeper coral reefs is difficult. Here we show that deeper (mesophotic) reefs, 30–75 m depth, in the Caribbean are not refugia because they have lower bleaching threshold temperatures than shallow reefs. Over two thermal stress events, mesophotic reef bleaching was driven by a bleaching threshold that declines 0.26 °C every +10 m depth. Thus, the main premise of the deep reef refugia hypothesis that cooler environments are protective is incorrect; any increase in temperatures above the local mean warmest conditions can lead to thermal stress and bleaching. Thus, relatively cooler temperatures can no longer be considered a de facto refugium for corals and it is likely that many deeper coral reefs are as vulnerable to climate change as shallow water reefs.