Wells, J. W., 1957. Coral reefs. In Hedgpeth, J. W. (ed.), Treatise on
Marine Ecology and Paleoecology 1. Ecology, New York: Geological Society of America Memoir 67, pp. 609–632.
Williams, D. G., 1994. Marine habitats of the Cocos (Keeling)
Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin, 406, 1–10.
Woodroffe, C. D., 2008. Reef-island topography and the vulnerability of atolls to sea-level rise. Global and Planetary Change, 62,
77–96.
Woodroffe, C. D., Kennedy, D. M., Hopley, D., Rasmussen, C. E.,
and Smithers, S. G., 2000. Holocene reef growth in Torres Strait.
Marine Geology, 170, 331–346.
Woodroffe, S. A., and Horton, B. P., 2005. Holocene sea-level
changes in the Indo-Pacific. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences,
25, 29–43.
Wyrwoll, K. H., Zhu, Z. R., Collins, L. B., and Hatcher, B. G., 2006.
Origin of blue hole structures in coral reefs:Houtman Abrolhos,
Western Australia. Journal of Coastal Research, 22, 202–208.
Cross-references
Algal Rims
Blowholes
Boulder Zone/Ramparts
Double and Triple Reef Fronts
El Niño, La Niña, and ENSO
Fore Reef/Reef Front
Hydrodynamics of Coral Reef Systems
Lagoons
Megablocks
Moats
Patch Reefs: Lidar Morphometric Analysis
Platforms (Cemented)
Reef Flats
Reticulated Reefs
Spurs and Grooves
Submerged Reefs
Wave Set-Up
GLACIAL CONTROL HYPOTHESIS
Tom Spencer
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Synonyms
Glacial control theory
Definition
Hypothesis developed by R. A. Daly to argue for youthful,
postglacial development of atolls and barrier reefs on platforms beveled during low sea surface temperatures and
sea levels of glacial periods.
‘Glacial control’ of coral reef development
Development of the hypothesis
The glacial control hypothesis, developed and defended
through a series of lectures, scientific papers, and book
chapters between 1910 and 1948 by R. A. Daly, was an
exploration of the effects of Pleistocene climate and sealevel change on coral reef evolution and morphology.
The hypothesis should be seen in the context of Nathaniel
Shaler’s (1875) argument that sea level rather than the
land was subject to general movement and Eduard Suess’s
development of the idea of eustatic sea-level change in the
second volume (1888) of “Das Antlitz der Erde” (translated by H. B. C. Sollas and W. J. Sollas as the “Face of
the Earth” in 1906). Both Suess and Murray (1879–
1880) favored the idea of the wave erosion of the summits
of young volcanoes as providing a suitable platform for
subsequent coral growth (and see also Steers and Stoddart,
1977 for ideas on planation surfaces and reef growth by
Semper, Wharton, Guppy, and Gardiner).
Daly visited Hawaii in 1909 and observed the narrowness of the encircling reefs which he inferred as an indicator of young age; he saw evidence for recent glaciation on
the volcanic slopes of Mauna Kea, indicating lower glacial
temperatures; and he noted the closeness of contemporary
sea surface temperatures in the northern winter at Hawaii
to the threshold temperature for reef growth. These observations were built into the glacial control hypothesis, first
published in 1910 and reaching their full development in
the Silliman lectures delivered at Yale University and
published in 1934 in a book entitled “The Changing World
of the Ice Age.” W. M. Davis saw Daly’s hypothesis as
diametrically opposed to Darwinian subsidence theory
and submitted it to sustained intellectual attack (e.g.,
Davis, 1918, 1919, 1923, 1928) but, as Stoddart (1973)
has pointed out, Darwin was concerned with understanding large-scale reef structure, whereas Daly was more
concerned with explaining reef surface morphology.
Daly’s key fact, backed up by an analysis of bathymetric charts of reef areas, was the global accordance and planar nature of atoll lagoon floors and continental shelves in
the reef seas within a limited depth range of 55–90 m. He
argued that during the glacial periods, sea level fell, sea
surface temperatures declined, and water turbidity
increased. These processes, perhaps exacerbated by
increased storminess and wave attack, resulted in coral
mortality, the removal of dead coral framework, and the
erosion of volcanic shores no longer protected by healthy
reef structures. The outcome was the production of
beveled platforms on volcanic islands and older limestone
basements. As sea level rose and sea surface temperatures
increased with the onset of interglacial conditions, then
coral growth resumed, preferentially on the platform margins (where environmental conditions were most favorable for coral growth) to result in typical atoll and barrier
reef morphologies (Figure 1).
Tests of the hypothesis
The hypothesis encompasses several elements all of which
are amenable to test as a result of late twentieth/early
twenty-first century developments in Quaternary science.
First, what was the degree of sea-level fall during the glacial periods? Second, what was the degree of sea temperature cooling during the glacial periods? And third, how
easy is it to bevel a reef structure and produce a smooth
platform?
486
GLACIAL CONTROL HYPOTHESIS
Marine Ecology and Paleoecology 1. Ecology, New York: Geological Society of America Memoir 67, pp. 609–632.
Williams, D. G., 1994. Marine habitats of the Cocos (Keeling)
Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin, 406, 1–10.
Woodroffe, C. D., 2008. Reef-island topography and the vulnerability of atolls to sea-level rise. Global and Planetary Change, 62,
77–96.
Woodroffe, C. D., Kennedy, D. M., Hopley, D., Rasmussen, C. E.,
and Smithers, S. G., 2000. Holocene reef growth in Torres Strait.
Marine Geology, 170, 331–346.
Woodroffe, S. A., and Horton, B. P., 2005. Holocene sea-level
changes in the Indo-Pacific. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences,
25, 29–43.
Wyrwoll, K. H., Zhu, Z. R., Collins, L. B., and Hatcher, B. G., 2006.
Origin of blue hole structures in coral reefs:Houtman Abrolhos,
Western Australia. Journal of Coastal Research, 22, 202–208.
Cross-references
Algal Rims
Blowholes
Boulder Zone/Ramparts
Double and Triple Reef Fronts
El Niño, La Niña, and ENSO
Fore Reef/Reef Front
Hydrodynamics of Coral Reef Systems
Lagoons
Megablocks
Moats
Patch Reefs: Lidar Morphometric Analysis
Platforms (Cemented)
Reef Flats
Reticulated Reefs
Spurs and Grooves
Submerged Reefs
Wave Set-Up
GLACIAL CONTROL HYPOTHESIS
Tom Spencer
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Synonyms
Glacial control theory
Definition
Hypothesis developed by R. A. Daly to argue for youthful,
postglacial development of atolls and barrier reefs on platforms beveled during low sea surface temperatures and
sea levels of glacial periods.
‘Glacial control’ of coral reef development
Development of the hypothesis
The glacial control hypothesis, developed and defended
through a series of lectures, scientific papers, and book
chapters between 1910 and 1948 by R. A. Daly, was an
exploration of the effects of Pleistocene climate and sealevel change on coral reef evolution and morphology.
The hypothesis should be seen in the context of Nathaniel
Shaler’s (1875) argument that sea level rather than the
land was subject to general movement and Eduard Suess’s
development of the idea of eustatic sea-level change in the
second volume (1888) of “Das Antlitz der Erde” (translated by H. B. C. Sollas and W. J. Sollas as the “Face of
the Earth” in 1906). Both Suess and Murray (1879–
1880) favored the idea of the wave erosion of the summits
of young volcanoes as providing a suitable platform for
subsequent coral growth (and see also Steers and Stoddart,
1977 for ideas on planation surfaces and reef growth by
Semper, Wharton, Guppy, and Gardiner).
Daly visited Hawaii in 1909 and observed the narrowness of the encircling reefs which he inferred as an indicator of young age; he saw evidence for recent glaciation on
the volcanic slopes of Mauna Kea, indicating lower glacial
temperatures; and he noted the closeness of contemporary
sea surface temperatures in the northern winter at Hawaii
to the threshold temperature for reef growth. These observations were built into the glacial control hypothesis, first
published in 1910 and reaching their full development in
the Silliman lectures delivered at Yale University and
published in 1934 in a book entitled “The Changing World
of the Ice Age.” W. M. Davis saw Daly’s hypothesis as
diametrically opposed to Darwinian subsidence theory
and submitted it to sustained intellectual attack (e.g.,
Davis, 1918, 1919, 1923, 1928) but, as Stoddart (1973)
has pointed out, Darwin was concerned with understanding large-scale reef structure, whereas Daly was more
concerned with explaining reef surface morphology.
Daly’s key fact, backed up by an analysis of bathymetric charts of reef areas, was the global accordance and planar nature of atoll lagoon floors and continental shelves in
the reef seas within a limited depth range of 55–90 m. He
argued that during the glacial periods, sea level fell, sea
surface temperatures declined, and water turbidity
increased. These processes, perhaps exacerbated by
increased storminess and wave attack, resulted in coral
mortality, the removal of dead coral framework, and the
erosion of volcanic shores no longer protected by healthy
reef structures. The outcome was the production of
beveled platforms on volcanic islands and older limestone
basements. As sea level rose and sea surface temperatures
increased with the onset of interglacial conditions, then
coral growth resumed, preferentially on the platform margins (where environmental conditions were most favorable for coral growth) to result in typical atoll and barrier
reef morphologies (Figure 1).
Tests of the hypothesis
The hypothesis encompasses several elements all of which
are amenable to test as a result of late twentieth/early
twenty-first century developments in Quaternary science.
First, what was the degree of sea-level fall during the glacial periods? Second, what was the degree of sea temperature cooling during the glacial periods? And third, how
easy is it to bevel a reef structure and produce a smooth
platform?
486
GLACIAL CONTROL HYPOTHESIS