The Geomorphic Aspect of the Fringing Coral Reef

The Geomorphic Aspect of the Fringing Coral Reef
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Tourism forms one of the most crucial sources of revenue for most of the countries in the world. In light of the many tourist attraction sites and features coral reefs form some of the most magnificent sites to behold. The beauty of coral reefs is as mysterious and rejuvenating as their formation and structure as well as the creatures that are found in the reefs. Most of the people that have had the chance to scuba dive or watch the sceneries on video or on still photos, have the appreciation of the beauty of the coral reefs and the abundance of awe (Life.bio.sunysb.edu 2015). They form an important part of the world fisheries, relative to the fact that more than a quarter of ocean’s fish use them as nurseries, offering food and revenue to millions of people. The coral reefs also form part of the coastal protection frontier as they break the strength of the hurricanes, flooding, typhoons, tsunamis and storms (Web.stanford.edu 2015b). Consequently they reduce the amount of loss that would be incurred with frequent storms bombarding property and endangering human and animal life at the coast (Stoddart 2007). Like most tropical forests, the coral reefs are a rich source of medical remedies (Veron 2015). In some of the most recent instances the coral reefs have been used in the treatment of HIV and cancer (Riegl et al. 2009). For the people that live around the coast, the coral reefs are intrinsically woven into the culture of the people giving them subtle significance (Harvey 2015).
The coral reefs are fragile ecosystems found underwater formed of the skeletons that come from the coral; the corals are marine invertebrates (Life.bio.sunysb.edu 2015). There are hundreds of different species of corals across the globe and they come in many arrays of colors and shapes. Some have even been known to mimic the human brain shape, while others look like colored trees among other shapes (Cole and Michael). Not all corals form the coral reefs as the ones that mostly form these complex structures are referred to as hermatypic, which basically means that these are hard corals (Lallanilla 2013). Ideally, the hard corals tend to have an abundance of calcium carbonate a compound that helps with the fusion of the corals on the ocean floor under the right conditions. The calcium carbonate is extracted from the seawater by the hard corals to protect their soft inner parts. Corals are basically found across the world’s oceans; however they grow quickly in the shallow waters of the subtropics and tropic ocean waters. The largest of the world’s coral reefs collection is found in Australia, and is commonly referred to as the Great Barrier Reef. This coral reef is more than 2400 kilometers in length (Lallanilla 2013). There are hundreds of different species of corals across the globe and they come in many arrays of colors and shapes. Some have even been known to mimic the human brain shape, while others look like colored trees among other shapes. Ironically, the coral are do not cover more than 0.1% of the world surface, however they are home to more than 25% of all the species found in the marine environment, such as fish, tunicates, worms,...