Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Types of coral reefs

Hello everybody, today we would like to introduce you to several types of coral reefs:

Fringing reef – a reef that is directly attached to a shore or borders it with an intervening shallow channel or lagoon.

















Barrier reef – a reef separated from a mainland or island shore by a deep lagoon (see Great Barrier Reef).










Patch reef – an isolated, often circular reef, usually within a lagoon or embayment.














Apron reef – a short reef resembling a fringing reef, but more sloped; extending out and downward from a point or peninsular shore.









Bank reef – a linear or semi-circular in outline, larger than a patch reef.












Ribbon reef – a long, narrow, somewhat winding reef, usually associated with an atoll lagoon.











Atoll reef – a more or less circular or continuous barrier reef extending all the way around a lagoon without a central island.



















Table reef – an isolated reef, approaching an atoll type, but without a lagoon.



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