The Natural Growth Records of Reef Building Corals

Through analysis of hermatypic coral incremental growth features, it is possible to determine the response of recent corals to their environments. In this way I have attempted to obtain a tool not only to gain knowledge of recent growth processes but also for reconstructing aspects of past environment conditions associated with fossil coral growth. The procedure has been first to determine time relationships and characteristics of coral skeletal density bands and to next use banding for investigations into areal growth rate patterns, coral population age distributions, and coral-climate interactions. Density band couplets, visible X-radiographically in medial sections of coral skeletons, are demonstrated to be formed annually for the corals Diploria labyrinthiformis from Bermuda...