Research Catalog

Title

The structure and distribution of coral reefs / Charles Darwin ; foreword by H.W. Menard.

Author

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

Publication

Berkeley : University of California Press, 1962.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

214 pages, 22 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps; 21 cm

Subject

• Beagle Expedition (1831-1836)
• Coral reefs and islands
• atolls
• Coral reefs and islands

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Atolls or lagoon-islands : Description of keeling atoll : Corals on the outer margin ; Zone of Nulliporæ ; Exterior reef ; Islets ; Coral conglomerate ; Lagoon ; Calcareous sediment ; Scari and Holuthuriæ subsisting on corals ; Changes in the condition of the reefs and islets ; Probable subsidence of the atoll ; Future state of the lagoon. General description of atolls : General form and size of atolls, their reefs and islets ; External slope ; Zone of Nulliporæ ; Conglomerate ; Depth of lagoons ; Sediment ; Reefs submerged wholly or in part ; Breaches in the reef ; Ledge-formed shores round certain lagoons ; Conversion of lagoons into land. Atolls of the Maldiva Archipelago--Great Chagos Bank : Maldiva Archipelago ; Ring-formed reefs marginal and central ; Great depth in the lagoons of the southern atolls ; Reefs in the lagoons all rising to the surface ; Position of islets and breaches in the reefs, with respect to the prevalent winds and action of the waves ; Destruction of islets ; Connection in the position and submarine foundation of distinct atolls ; The apparent disseverment of large atolls ; The Great Chagos Bank ; Its submerged condition and extraordinary structure -- Barrier-reefs : Closely resemble in general form and structure atoll-reefs ; Width and depth of the lagoon-channels ; Breaches through the reef in front of valleys, and generally on the leeward side ; Checks to the filling up of the lagoon-channels ; Size and constitution of the encircled islands ; Number of islands within the same reef ; Barrier-reefs of New Caledonia and Australia ; Position of the reef relative to the slope of the adjoining land ; Probable great thickness of barrier-reefs -- Fringing or shore reefs : Reefs of Mauritius ; Shallow channel within the reef ; Its slow filling up ; Currents of water formed within it ; Upraised reefs ; Narrow fringing-reefs in deep seas ; Reefs on the coast of E. Africa and of Brazil ; Fringing-reefs in very shallow seas, round banks of sediment and on worn-down islands ; Fringing-reefs affected by currents of the sea ; Coral coating the bottom of the sea, but not forming reefs -- On the distribution and growth of coral reefs : On the distribution of coral-reefs, and on the conditions favourable to their increase ; On the rate of growth of coral-reefs ; On the depths at which reef-building polypifers can live -- Theory of the formation of the different classes of coral-reefs : The atolls of the larger archipelagoes are not formed on submerged craters, or on banks of sediment ; Immense areas interspersed with atolls ; Their subsidence ; The effects of storms and earthquakes on atolls ; Recent changes in their state ; The origin of barrier-reefs and of atolls ; Their relative forms ; The step-formed ledges and walls round the shores of some lagoons ; The ring-formed reefs of the Maldiva atolls ; The submerged condition of parts or of the whole of some annular reefs ; The disseverment of large atolls ; The union of atolls by linear reefs ; The Great Chagos Bank ; Objections, from the area and amount of subsidence required by the theory, considered ; The probable composition of the lower parts of atolls -- On the distribution of coral-reefs with reference to the theory of their formation : Description of the coloured map ; Proximity of atolls and barrier-reefs ; Relation in form and position of atolls with ordinary islands ; Direct evidence of subsidence difficult to be detected ; Proofs of recent elevation where fringing reefs occur ; Oscillations of level ; Absence of active volcanos in the areas of subsidence ; Immensity of the areas which have been elevated and have subsidence elongated, their intersection and alternation with those of elevation ; Amount, and slow rate of the subsidence ; Recapitulation.

LCCN

62003186

OCLC

• ocm00399689
• 399689
• SCSB-303563

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library