The Geomorphology of the Great Barrier Reef

David Hopley is Adjunct Professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (formerly School of Tropical Environment Studies and Geography) at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia. He has spent over 40 years working on the Great Barrier Reef and has been a consultant in Coastal and Coral Reef Management since 1997. Scott Smithers is Senior Lecturer in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia. He has worked on the Great Barrier Reef and in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. His broad research interests are in the Quaternary evolution of coastal environments, especially coral reefs and tropical coasts. Kevin Parnell is Associate Professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia. After completing a PhD at JCU, he worked on temperate beach systems at the University of Auckland before returning to JCU in 2003, undertaking reef and tropical beach system research.

Over the last 25 years considerable information on the geomorphological evolution of the world's largest coral reef system, the Great Barrier Reef, has become available. This book reviews the history of geomorphological studies of the Great Barrier Reef and assesses the influences of sea-level change and oceanographic processes on the development of reefs over the last 10,000 years. It presents analyses of recently attained data from the Great Barrier Reef and reconstructions of the sequence of events which have led to its current geomorphology. The authors emphasise the importance of the geomorphological time span and its applications for present management applications. This is a valuable reference for academic researchers in geomorphology and oceanography, and will also appeal to graduate students in related fields.

Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Geomorphology of the Great Barrier Reef; 2. Foundations of the Great Barrier Reef; 3. Sea-level: a primary control of long-term reef growth and geomorphological development; 4. Oceanography, hydrodynamics, climate and water quality as influences on reef geomorphological processes; 5. Spatial analysis of the reefs and islands of the Great Barrier Reef; 6. The non-reefal areas of the Continental Shelf; 7. Fringing and nearshore coral reefs; 8. The mid-shelf reefs of the Great Barrier Reef; 9. The coral reefs of the outer shelf of the Great Barrier Reef; 10. Reef islands of the Great Barrier Reef; 11. The accumulation of the Holocene veneer to the Great Barrier Reef; 12. The Holocene evolution of the Great Barrier Reef province; 13. Geomorphology's contribution to the understanding and resolution of environmental problems of the Great Barrier Reef; References; Index.