Blunder might be from man or a massive storm.
Barges and ship run into reefs often.  Sport fisherman
hit reefs with propellers and hooks.   These are blunders.

We had some really tough Typhoons and tropical storms.
They ripped up reefs.  The 6' Good Friday tsunami that hit
Kwajalein did so at low-low tide.  It was like a freight
train hitting a wall.  Massive shudder and water everywhere.
It didn't hit at zero or high - thank goodness - otherwise
the island might have been cleaned off.

Currently METH labs all over are dumping barrels of
various chemicals and mixes into waterways and down
hills and drains.

When living in the Santa Cruz mountains, houses on the
river edge or ravine to the river - would roll unknown
contents into the river.  The river ran to Santa Cruz and
into the ocean.

I'm sure it is going on in Miami - :-) saw a CSI on it
yesterday.  But really strong baths are not good.

Water runoff of garden spots and grasses increase phosphorous
and where the CO2 comes from is likely a export from
another chemical reaction, or tons of carbonated drinks.

All that you state are blunders of man upon nature.
A tour boat dumps champagne overboard after a party and
the fountain needs draining...  But likely Phosphoric
acid or the like is dissolving the reef giving up CO2
which in turn changes the ph and might liberate more.
I suppose the CO2 is from waste garbage from barges
and boats.

Oh - CO from boats.  Then it steals oxygen from the water
and creates CO2.  Boat exhaust dumped into the water or
across it.

Boat heaven and dead reefs.

Martin

mike gray wrote:
> Martin H. Eastburn wrote:
>> A lot of good information on reefs.  Here is some inputs I gathered
>> while living in the south Pacific.
>>
>> Reefs are hard to kill when healthy.  A blunder of one type or another
>> might
>> break off sections of exposed beauty.  When the health is right, rapid
>> regrowth
>> can occur.
>
> This is true. But the biggest threat to the coral reefs from the
> Tortugas to Palm Beach, one of the largest and most diverse reefs in the
> world, is not blunders that break off sections of the reef but (1)
> disolved CO2 which must not exceed 450ppm, and (2) high levels of
> nitrogen, phosphorous and other algae nutrients in ocean-dumped sewerage
> and runoff.
>>
>> I think the real precursor might be those corals that live in 6' or less
>> water.  When
>> they get get to deep or atop water they tend to die.  The deep corals,
>> won't notice
>> a difference in depth. The reef corals - those that bob out of water
>> every low tide
>> might drown.
>
> Reefs adapt well to rising and falling sea levels. The exposed base of
> the main south Florida reef section was once awash and the dead stands
> of shallow water coral can still be seen. The sea level has risen about
> 65' as a result of the global warming of the past 17,000 years, but the
> reef is still there, with a 20' cap of deep water corals, and (barely)
> alive. Corings show that the reef has sunk, under its own weight, into
> the limestone substrate, and is a layer cake of alternating shallow and
> deep water corals corresponding to the cycles of rising and falling sea
> levels.
>
> The threats to the reef are man made, and much more insidious than the
> occasional wayward barge. South Florida still dumps 500 million gallons
> a day of minimally treated sewerage directly onto the reefs. CO2 levels
> continue to rise. No one really cares, the nice thing about the ocean
> bottom is that it is out of sight, and out of mind.
>
> To see what Reef Rescue is doing, please go to www.reef-rescue.org
>
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--
Martin H. Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
TSRA, Endowed; NRA LOH & Patron Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot's Medal.
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.
http://lufkinced.com/

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