Coral Reef Origins The Theories

Abstract

Abstract Prior to 1911, very little was known about the nature or the general distribution of coral reefs within the Indonesian .Archipelago. The earliest synthesis of information on the distribution and the type of coral reefs in the archipelago appeared in Darwin’s 1842 monumental work on the structure and evolution of coral reefs, which also included the first world distribution map of these systems. Darwin (1842) in his classification of coral reefs distinguished three main types, fringing reefs, barrier reefs and atolls. However, the structural characteristics of reef forms (e.g., fringing and barrier reefs) on which Darwin based his broad and simple classification system were only loosely defined (Stoddart 1975). As coral reef research, especially coral reef geomorphology, gathered momentum to address the “coral reef problem” (Davis 1928), numerous new structural terms, considered as intermediate and end-members of Darwin’s original sequence, were added to the classification (Davis 1928; Stoddart 1975). From a worldwide perspective, recent additions of new coral reefs to Darwin’s original distribution map can lx considered as relatively minor when compared to the major transformation of reef distribution patterns in the Indonesian .Archipelago.