What is the Definition of Reef Crest?

The reef crest, or algal ridge, is the highest point of the reef, and is almost always exposed at low tide. The reef crest is exposed to the full fury of incoming waves, and living corals are practically nonexistent here.

1. How deep is the reef crest?
2. What is the edge of a reef called?
3. What is a reef front?
4. What exactly is reef?
5. What is reef lagoon?
6. Is coral a reef?
7. What is reef drowning?
8. What are the 3 types of reefs?
9. What is the oldest type of reef?
10. What are the coral reef zones?
11. What ocean zone is the coral reef in?
12. What are 5 characteristics that define coral reef zones?
13. What are corals Class 9?
14. What do coral reefs mean?
15. What makes a reef a reef?

How deep is the reef crest?

The channel is about 140 m wide and reaches depths of up to 30 m near its entry to the Pacific Ocean. The reef flat and reef crest areas are shallow, with some areas exposed during low tide.

What is the edge of a reef called?

Reef slope (fore reef)

The reef slope is found at the outer edge of the fringing reef, closest to the open ocean. ... The upper portion of this slope is called the reef crest.

What is a reef front?

Definition. The reef front is the downward-sloping reef section, seaward of the reef crest that normally ends in a sediment apron. Waves undergo transformations over the sloping reef front that redistribute and dissipate their energy.

What exactly is reef?

A reef is a ridge of material at or near the surface of the ocean. Reefs can occur naturally. Natural reefs are made of rocks or the skeletons of small animals called corals. Reefs can also be artificial—created by human beings. Artificial Reefs.

What is reef lagoon?

A coral reef lagoon is that body of water that lies within an atoll (annular) reef or within a barrier reef. It is generally assumed that an appreciable depth of water is maintained within the lagoon, say 5-50 meters. ... In other cases, the lagoon floor may become almost blocked by vast growths of coral patches.

Is coral a reef?

A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. ... They are most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters, but deep water and cold water coral reefs exist on smaller scales in other areas.

What is reef drowning?

Drowned (or submerged) reefs are coral reefs that grew during lower sea-levels, and they now lie in depths greater than those typically associated with the vigorous growth of modern coral reefs.

What are the 3 types of reefs?

The three main types of coral reefs are fringing, barrier, and atoll. Schools of colorful pennantfish, pyramid, and milletseed butterflyfish live on an atoll reef in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The most common type of reef is the fringing reef. This type of reef grows seaward directly from the shore.

What is the oldest type of reef?

The southern third of Isle La Motte contains remnants of the Chazy Reef, which, at 480 million years old, is considered the oldest reef in the world where corals first appeared. It was formed in a tropical sea straddling the equator, and it once stretched 1,000 miles.

What are the coral reef zones?

Coral reefs can be separated into three distinct zones: the back reef, reef crest, and fore-reef (Figure 7). The back reef includes the shallow lagoon between the shore and coral reef. This habitat includes small patches of corals, sea grass beds, and sand plains.

What ocean zone is the coral reef in?

Coral reefs are ocean ridges formed by marine invertebrates living in warm shallow waters within the photic zone of the ocean. They are found within 30˚ north and south of the equator.

What are 5 characteristics that define coral reef zones?

Coral Reef Zones Video Scientists divide coral reefs into zones. They base these divisions on location within the reef and characteristics such as depth, wave action, light intensity, temperature, and water chemistry. Zones of the reef include: lagoon, back reef, reef flat, reef crest, and fore reef.

What are corals Class 9?

Corals are short-lived microscopic organisms which live in colonies. They flourish in shallow mud-free and warm waters. They secrete calcium carbonate. The coral secretion and their skeletons form coral deposits.

What do coral reefs mean?

coral reef. A mound or ridge of living coral, coral skeletons, and calcium carbonate deposits from other organisms such as calcareous algae, mollusks, and protozoans. Most coral reefs form in warm, shallow sea waters and rise to or near the surface, generally in the form of a barrier reef, fringing reef, or atoll.

What makes a reef a reef?

A coral reef is made of thin layers of calcium carbonate

Stony corals (or scleractinians) are the corals primarily responsible for laying the foundations of, and building up, reef structures. Massive reef structures are formed when each individual stony coral organism—or polyp—secretes a skeleton of calcium carbonate.