Abstract
The Antecedent-Platform theory for the origin of coral reefs holds that any bench or bank that is located at a proper depth within the circumequatorial coral-reef zone is potentially a coral-reef foundation. If ecological conditions permit, a reef may grow to the surface from such a foundation without any change in sea-level. Reef foundations, or platforms, are formed by erosion, deposition, volcanic eruption, or earth movement or by combinations of two or more of these processes. Examples of each type from Fiji and Tonga are cited, some of the examples being visible beneath elevated reefs, others inferred beneath existing reefs. In Fiji and in parts, if not all, of Tonga, pyroclastic action has been the dominant form of volcanic activity since early Tertiary time; and many coral reefs probably developed on platforms cut by the waves in uncon-solidated material of this kind. Platforms originating below the depth limit of reef corals were veneered with tuffaceous limestone and built to the zone of reef-cor...
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