WAMSI 2 - Kimberley Node - Project 1.3.1 - Reef Growth and Maintenance

The goal of this project was to gain a regional understanding of the geomorphology of the Kimberley coral reefs, including their interaction with different substrates, morphological patterns, distribution and relative exposure to terrestrial and other impacts. The most cost effective way to determine reef growth architecture is through shallow seismic surveys which will provide information on foundations, previous reef growth events and Holocene buildup, also providing site survey data for collection of Holocene cores. The Holocene reef record will be obtained by coring selected sites, to gain an understanding of sea levels and growth history responses, timing of events during the Holocene, reef building communities, resilience and climate change responses. This involved addressing the following:\n\nIn summary, our objectives were: \n\n- Use remote sensing with limited ground truth checking to establish the regional geomorphology, growth patterns and substrates of the inshore Kimberley reefs;\n- Determine the seismic architecture of selected Kimberley reefs as part of an assessment of Holocene reef growth and relation to antecedent foundations to assess reef growth;\n- Obtain a Holocene record of sea level change, reef building communities, chronology and growth patterns and climate history of selected inshore reefs for comparison with the short term record, where suitable coral material is obtained; \n- Where possible, quantify reef flat elevations, reef topography and morphology.\n\nPrior to commencement of acquisition of field data in 2013 time was invested in examining technical, equipment and logistic issues presented for SBP surveys and collection of coral reef cores for the remote and “tidally challenged” operational activities that will be required by this project. This is important also for site selection, which to some extent was dependent on other Kimberley project activities and priorities, and on ongoing discussions within WAMSI and with Industry groups. \n\nOre pit mapping fieldwork was undertaken on a Holocene reef exposed in a mining pit on Cockatoo Island in July 2013 and a paper published on the findings in Marine Geology in 2015. In October 2013 SBP fieldwork was successfully completed and analysis of the data completed. Collection of cores was completed in October 2014, where possible, in the same locations as the SBP, all cores were been logged and sampled and samples sent for dating, dating results for all reefs, except Adele Reef, have been received. The ‘ReefKIM’ database has mapped more than 800 reefs and 30 analysed in detail.\n\nData is stored at Pawsey Supercomputing Centre on 'WA Node Ocean Data Network' project under 'WAMSI2 > KMRP > 1.3 > 1.3.1'. There are seven main folders:\n1) 000 Reports 2) 001 Metadata 3) 002 ReefKIM Database 4) 003 Reef Coring 5) 004 Cockatoo Island 6) 005 Seismic 7) 006 Papers. Detail of folders is available via '1.3.1_Folder_Structure.pdf' which is attached to this metadata record.

本项目旨在全面掌握金伯利（Kimberley）海域珊瑚礁（coral reefs）的地貌学（geomorphology）特征，涵盖其与不同基底的相互作用、地貌形态、分布规律，以及受陆地活动及其他因素影响的相对暴露程度。确定珊瑚礁生长结构最具成本效益的技术手段为浅地震勘探（shallow seismic surveys），该方法可获取礁体基底、既往礁体生长事件及全新世（Holocene）礁体堆积的相关信息，同时可为全新世岩芯采集提供野外调查数据支撑。本研究将通过对选定点位开展岩芯取芯作业，获取全新世珊瑚礁记录，以解析海平面变化、礁体生长历史响应、全新世期间事件发生时序、造礁群落结构、珊瑚礁恢复力及其对气候变化的响应。本项目需达成以下研究目标：

简言之，本项目的研究目标如下：
- 结合有限的地面验证（ground truth checking）开展遥感（remote sensing）工作，明确金伯利近岸珊瑚礁的区域地貌、生长模式及基底类型；
- 解析选定金伯利珊瑚礁的地震结构，以此评估全新世礁体生长情况及其与先期基底的关联，进而研判礁体生长状态；
- 对选定近岸珊瑚礁采集岩芯，获取其全新世海平面变化、造礁群落、年代序列、生长模式及气候历史记录，在获取适配珊瑚样品的前提下，与短期记录开展对比分析；
- 在条件允许的情况下，量化礁坪高程、礁体地形及地貌形态。

2013年野外数据采集启动前，项目团队已投入时间梳理该项目针对偏远且受潮汐条件限制的作业活动所涉及的浅地层剖面仪（SBP）勘探及珊瑚礁岩芯采集相关的技术、设备与后勤保障问题。点位选址同样依赖此项前期准备工作，其在一定程度上取决于金伯利地区其他项目的活动与优先级，同时需与西澳大利亚海洋科学研究所（WAMSI）内部及行业团体开展持续沟通协调。

2013年7月，研究团队在科卡图岛（Cockatoo Island）一处采矿坑裸露的全新世珊瑚礁上开展了矿坑地貌填图野外工作，相关研究成果于2015年发表于《海洋地质学》（Marine Geology）期刊。2013年10月，浅地层剖面仪（SBP）野外勘探工作顺利完成，数据解析工作也已收官。2014年10月，岩芯采集工作圆满完成，采集点位优先选取浅地震勘探的相同区域；所有岩芯均已完成编录与采样，并将样品送检开展年代测定；除阿黛尔礁（Adele Reef）外，所有礁体的年代测定结果均已获取。ReefKIM数据库已完成800余处珊瑚礁的制图工作，其中30处礁体已完成详细分析。

本项目数据存储于帕西超级计算中心（Pawsey Supercomputing Centre）的"西澳节点海洋数据网络（WA Node Ocean Data Network）"项目下的"WAMSI2 > KMRP > 1.3 > 1.3.1"目录中。该目录包含7个主要文件夹：1) 000 报告 2) 001 元数据 3) 002 ReefKIM数据库 4) 003 珊瑚礁岩芯 5) 004 科卡图岛 6) 005 地震勘探数据 7) 006 学术论文。各文件夹的详细说明可通过本元数据记录附带的"1.3.1_Folder_Structure.pdf"文件查阅。