Coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific and changes in global Holocene.
University of Southampton, Faculty of Engineering Science and
Mathematics, School of Ocean and Earth Science, The key to
understanding the future impact of the anthropogenic combustion
of fossil fuels on the climate system, is to fully understand
the complex feedback loops within the natural Earth system. One
natural climate feedback that has been proposed is the Coral
Reef Hypothesis whereby significant increases in coral reef
growth may have contributed to the deglacial increase in
atmospheric CO2 observed in the ice core records. This thesis
examines the role of coral reefs in the oceanic carbonate budget
and global carbon cycle both spatially and temporally during the
Holocene. Using the most comprehensive reef area estimate to
date, a conservative estimate of cumulative CaCO3 accumulation
within coral reefs globally from 10 kyr BP to present is 7970
Gt. This estimate includes a temporal and spatial view of reef
CaCO3 accumulation during the