Island at the southern end of the GBR and close to the capital city of Brisbane. This has subsequently become one of
the major reef research facilities in the world.
During the second half of the twentieth century, the
Committee was very active in conservation issues of the
GBR, something which Richards had originally seen as
being important. Scientific evidence about the crown-ofthorns starfish and oil drilling on the Reef, and the need
to create the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
was presented to a number of government commissions.
The Committee also played a part in the organization of
the Second International Coral Reef Symposium in 1973,
which uniquely was held aboard the cruise ship “Marco
Polo” travelling from Brisbane to Lizard Island and return.
Also in the same year, the Committee was involved in the
organization of a further expedition to the northern GBR.
Enthusiastic support came from Sir Maurice Yonge and
Professor Alfred Steers from the 1928–1929 expedition.
Major input came from the Royal Society of London and
from the Universities of Queensland (Queensland University and the new James Cook University of North Queensland). The leader of the expedition was Dr. David Stoddart
of Cambridge University. Again, significant data was
obtained especially from the reef islands and comparison
with results from 1928–1929 to 1936 allowed some
assessment of the dynamics of the islands. Results of this
work were published in 1978 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London A, 291 and B, 184.
In 1988, after 66 years as an unattached committee with
nominated membership, the Great Barrier Reef Committee became the Australian Coral Reef Society (ACRS)
with subscription membership. However, continuity is
recognized and this makes it the oldest organization
concerned with coral reefs in the world.
Bibliography
Bowen, J., and Bowen, M., 2002. The Great Barrier Reef, History,
Science and Heritage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
454 pp.
Hill, D., 1985a. The Great Barrier Reef Committee 1922–1982: the
first thirty years. Historical Records of Australian Science, 6(1),
1–18.
Hill, D., 1985b. The Great Barrier Reef Committee 1922–1982: the
last three decades. Historical Records of Australian Science,
6(2), 195–221.
Jones, O. A., 1974. The Great Barrier Reef Committee - 1922–
1973. Proceedings Second International Coral Reef Symposium,
2, 733–737.
Lloyd, A. R., 1973. Foraminifera of the Great Barrier Reef bores. In
Jones, O. A., and Endean, R. (eds.), Biology and Geology of
Coral Reefs, 1, Geology, 1, 347–366.
Spender, M. A., 1930. Island reefs of the Queensland coast. Geographical Journal, 76, 194–214, 273–297.
Steers, J. A., 1929. The Queensland coast and the Great Barrier
Reef. Geographical Journal, 74, 232–257, 341–370.
Steers, J. A., 1937. The coral islands and associated features of the
Great Barrier Reefs. Geographical Journal, 89, 1–28, 119–146.
Steers, J. A., 1938. Detailed notes on the islands surveyed and
examined by the Geographical Expedition to the Great Barrier
Reef in 1936. Reports of the Great Barrier Reef Committee, 4,
51–96.
Cross-references
Daly, Reginald Aldworth (1871–1957)
Dana, James Dwight (1813–1895)
Darwin, Charles (1809–1882)
Davis, William Morris (1850–1934)
Great Barrier Reef: Origin, Evolution, and Modern Development
Royal Society of London
Steers, James Alfred (1899–1987)
Stoddart, David Ross (1937–)
Yonge, Sir Maurice (1899–1986)
GREAT BARRIER REEF: ORIGIN, EVOLUTION, AND
MODERN DEVELOPMENT
Peter J. Davies
University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Introduction
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is arguably the largest coral
reef system to have ever existed on the planet. It lies off the
northeast Australian margin – a passive margin, but
a margin which is being gradually consumed as
a consequence of Australia’s inexorable drift toward the
New Guinea foreland basin and the trenches to the north.
Unless plate motions change, the Great Barrier Reef is
a temporary acquisition. The following is the story of its
development to date – one of three major reef systems to
have existed in the region since the Miocene, and the Great
Barrier Reef owes its existence to both its predecessors.
The architecture of offshore northeast Australia
The northeast Australian margin (Figure 1a) comprises the
continental shelf and a number of marginal plateaux and
rift troughs: the Eastern, Queensland, and Marion Plateaux; the Pandora and Bligh Troughs; the Osprey Embayment; and the Queensland and Townsville Troughs and the
Cato Trough. In addition, a zone of narrow rift basins
extend southeast beneath the shelf of the GBR from the
Queensland Trough southeast toward the Capricorn Basin
and separating the Marion Plateau from the inner and middle continental shelf. The entire margin is underlain by
modified continental crust formed as a result of fragmentation of a northeastern extension of the Tasman Fold Belt
(Gardner, 1970; Ewing et al., 1970; Falvey, 1972; Falvey
and Taylor, 1974; Taylor, 1975; Mutter, 1977; Taylor
and Falvey, 1977; Mutter and Karner, 1980; Symonds,
1983; Symonds Davies and Parisi, 1984). The main physical and structural elements of offshore Queensland are
shown in Figure 1b and briefly described below:
Eastern Fields Plateau
The Eastern Plateau is the most northern marginal plateau
of the northeast Australian continental margin (Figures 1a, b,
and 2a) and is bounded in the west by the Moresby, Pandora, and Bligh Troughs, in the south by the Osprey
Embayment, in the north by the Moresby Canyon, and in
504
GREAT BARRIER REEF: ORIGIN, EVOLUTION, AND MODERN DEVELOPMENT
the major reef research facilities in the world.
During the second half of the twentieth century, the
Committee was very active in conservation issues of the
GBR, something which Richards had originally seen as
being important. Scientific evidence about the crown-ofthorns starfish and oil drilling on the Reef, and the need
to create the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
was presented to a number of government commissions.
The Committee also played a part in the organization of
the Second International Coral Reef Symposium in 1973,
which uniquely was held aboard the cruise ship “Marco
Polo” travelling from Brisbane to Lizard Island and return.
Also in the same year, the Committee was involved in the
organization of a further expedition to the northern GBR.
Enthusiastic support came from Sir Maurice Yonge and
Professor Alfred Steers from the 1928–1929 expedition.
Major input came from the Royal Society of London and
from the Universities of Queensland (Queensland University and the new James Cook University of North Queensland). The leader of the expedition was Dr. David Stoddart
of Cambridge University. Again, significant data was
obtained especially from the reef islands and comparison
with results from 1928–1929 to 1936 allowed some
assessment of the dynamics of the islands. Results of this
work were published in 1978 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London A, 291 and B, 184.
In 1988, after 66 years as an unattached committee with
nominated membership, the Great Barrier Reef Committee became the Australian Coral Reef Society (ACRS)
with subscription membership. However, continuity is
recognized and this makes it the oldest organization
concerned with coral reefs in the world.
Bibliography
Bowen, J., and Bowen, M., 2002. The Great Barrier Reef, History,
Science and Heritage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
454 pp.
Hill, D., 1985a. The Great Barrier Reef Committee 1922–1982: the
first thirty years. Historical Records of Australian Science, 6(1),
1–18.
Hill, D., 1985b. The Great Barrier Reef Committee 1922–1982: the
last three decades. Historical Records of Australian Science,
6(2), 195–221.
Jones, O. A., 1974. The Great Barrier Reef Committee - 1922–
1973. Proceedings Second International Coral Reef Symposium,
2, 733–737.
Lloyd, A. R., 1973. Foraminifera of the Great Barrier Reef bores. In
Jones, O. A., and Endean, R. (eds.), Biology and Geology of
Coral Reefs, 1, Geology, 1, 347–366.
Spender, M. A., 1930. Island reefs of the Queensland coast. Geographical Journal, 76, 194–214, 273–297.
Steers, J. A., 1929. The Queensland coast and the Great Barrier
Reef. Geographical Journal, 74, 232–257, 341–370.
Steers, J. A., 1937. The coral islands and associated features of the
Great Barrier Reefs. Geographical Journal, 89, 1–28, 119–146.
Steers, J. A., 1938. Detailed notes on the islands surveyed and
examined by the Geographical Expedition to the Great Barrier
Reef in 1936. Reports of the Great Barrier Reef Committee, 4,
51–96.
Cross-references
Daly, Reginald Aldworth (1871–1957)
Dana, James Dwight (1813–1895)
Darwin, Charles (1809–1882)
Davis, William Morris (1850–1934)
Great Barrier Reef: Origin, Evolution, and Modern Development
Royal Society of London
Steers, James Alfred (1899–1987)
Stoddart, David Ross (1937–)
Yonge, Sir Maurice (1899–1986)
GREAT BARRIER REEF: ORIGIN, EVOLUTION, AND
MODERN DEVELOPMENT
Peter J. Davies
University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Introduction
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is arguably the largest coral
reef system to have ever existed on the planet. It lies off the
northeast Australian margin – a passive margin, but
a margin which is being gradually consumed as
a consequence of Australia’s inexorable drift toward the
New Guinea foreland basin and the trenches to the north.
Unless plate motions change, the Great Barrier Reef is
a temporary acquisition. The following is the story of its
development to date – one of three major reef systems to
have existed in the region since the Miocene, and the Great
Barrier Reef owes its existence to both its predecessors.
The architecture of offshore northeast Australia
The northeast Australian margin (Figure 1a) comprises the
continental shelf and a number of marginal plateaux and
rift troughs: the Eastern, Queensland, and Marion Plateaux; the Pandora and Bligh Troughs; the Osprey Embayment; and the Queensland and Townsville Troughs and the
Cato Trough. In addition, a zone of narrow rift basins
extend southeast beneath the shelf of the GBR from the
Queensland Trough southeast toward the Capricorn Basin
and separating the Marion Plateau from the inner and middle continental shelf. The entire margin is underlain by
modified continental crust formed as a result of fragmentation of a northeastern extension of the Tasman Fold Belt
(Gardner, 1970; Ewing et al., 1970; Falvey, 1972; Falvey
and Taylor, 1974; Taylor, 1975; Mutter, 1977; Taylor
and Falvey, 1977; Mutter and Karner, 1980; Symonds,
1983; Symonds Davies and Parisi, 1984). The main physical and structural elements of offshore Queensland are
shown in Figure 1b and briefly described below:
Eastern Fields Plateau
The Eastern Plateau is the most northern marginal plateau
of the northeast Australian continental margin (Figures 1a, b,
and 2a) and is bounded in the west by the Moresby, Pandora, and Bligh Troughs, in the south by the Osprey
Embayment, in the north by the Moresby Canyon, and in
504
GREAT BARRIER REEF: ORIGIN, EVOLUTION, AND MODERN DEVELOPMENT