Bulle Atoll Research Bul3;Etin
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BULLE ATOLL RESEARCH BUL3;ETIN No. 87 Three Caribbean atolls: kneffe Islands, Lighthouse Reef, and Glover's Reef, British iionduras by D. R. Stoddart Issued by THE PACIFIC SCBATE BOARD National Academy of Sciences--National Research Council Washington, D.C . June 30, 1362 Preliminary Results of Field-work carried out during TIB Cf@BRICGE EXPEDITION TO BRITISH HONDURAS 1959-60 December 1959 to July 1960 and THE BRITISH HOPTDURAS CORAL REEFS Aim ISLANDS EXPEDITION 1961 bay 1961 to ~uly1961 (Sponsored by Coastal Studies Institute, Louisiana State University, and Office of Naval Reseasch, Washington) It is a pleasure to commend the far-si&ted policy of the Office of Naval Research, with its emphasis on basic research, as a result of r,rllich a (paat has made possible the continuation of the Coral A-Loll Program of the Pacific Science Board. It is of interes",~ note, historically, tha.t much of the funda- mental information on atolls of the Pacific rias gathered by the U. S. Navy's South Pacific krploring Expedition, over one hundred years ago, under the command of Captain Charles Willres. The continuing nature of such scientific interest by the Navy is sho~rnby the support for the Pacific Science B~ard'sresea.rch program during tl1e past fourteen years. The preparation and issuance of the Atoll Research Bulleti~lis assisted by fun& from Contract N70nr-2300(12). me sole responsibility for all statements made by authors of papers in the Atoll Research Bulletin rests vith them, and they do not necessarily represent the views of the Pacific Science hard or of the editors of the Bulle-tin. Editorial Staff P. R. Fosberg, editor M. -H. Sachet, assistant ecli'tor Co~res~ondmceconcerniw the Atoll. Research Bulletin should be addressed to the above Pacific Vegetation Project c/o DJational Research Council 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington 25, D.C., U. S.A. I. INTROWCTION Location Approaches Discovery Scientific studies on the atolls Present study 11. GROSS FORM AND STRUCTURE OF TIIE: OE'FSHO% AREA Submarine topography of the east coast of Yucatan Fault origin of the escarpments Submarine scarps and regional. tectonics 111. CLIMATE, SEA CURRENTS, TIDES IV. THE REEFS OF ATOLLS Species composition of the reefs Zonation of the reefs I. The Windward redfs East reef, Turneffe East reef, Lighthouse Reef East reef, Glover's Reef 11. The kewa.rd reefs West reef, Tumeffe West reef, Lighthouse Reef West reef, Glover's Xeef Genera1 features of the reef transects Lagoon reefs Relative importance of specles in reef- building Role of encrusting algae in reef-building Groove-and-spur systems V. WFSE ISWFDS Interior lagoons Land fa.una of Turneffe Cay Sokel The Deadman Group Calabash Cays Soldier and Blackbird Cays Pelican Cay The Cockroach Group The Northern Cays The Eastern Sand Ridge VI. LIGHTHOUSE REEF Land fauna of Lighthouse Reef The cays of Lighthouse Reef Sandbore Cay Northern Cay ,Saddl.e Cay iiclf Moon Cay Beaches Cay surface Coast beachrock and cong;#.omerates Evolution of the cay Vege-tation Occu.pance an6 land us? Concius~.on Lon2 Cay A note on tile map Elat Cay VII. GLOVFX? ' S RZEF Len6 i'aana of Glover's Emf The cay:; of G,.ovei's Reef Xorthea st Cay Lonz Cay North Long Cay t!:iddlz Cay S~Ll'chl~eStCay 1 Southvest Cay I1 VIII. FOlW AND DEWLOPbEW OOF THE CAYS 4. The sand cays Fon;i of said cays Orlain of sand cays Coi?:;-ti-i;u.ents of sand cejr; (a) Unconsoli6a'ced sed;iile;lts (h) Co:.~solit?ated sediacnts Re?.ict beach~oc: oi~dpresent evolu- tion oi.~sand cays ~~~1.n~f:'c.:a special. cose Xfi'ect of hurricanes on sand cays Vegetation of sand cays B. Th? z!anC;Yove cays Ti?- r,ian?i'ove cay Tile :.an3-ove-sand cay Origin of the ir:~angrove-r.ai1d cays C Conchs ion C:. ORIGIN XfiD D3VELW?,,EE!T OF TEE2 BRITISH BOilDURAS ATOLLS Pleistocene events Post-zlacial history C1ass:ificat:~onof th? reefs: so!,!c considerations 1. Swveyi.n.; 2. List of ;plants col.lecled 3. A .lob on Chinchorro Bank Atoll, Mexico iii FIGURES Follo.wing Page 1. Original survey of the atolls 6 2. Location of British Honduras atolls t 3. Scope of present investigation 4. East coast of Yucatan: Topography 5. East coast of Yucatan: Structure 6. The ktlett rough 7. Mean annual wind frequency at Belize 8. Vind frequency at Belize 0600 hours 9. Wind frequency at Belize 1800 hours 10. Caribbean surface circulation 11. Windward reef transects 12. Leetrard reef transects 13. Groove-spw systems on atoll reefs 14. rul.neffe Islands 15. Cay kkel 16. badma= I and 11 17. Dea.dman IV 18. Deadman I11 and V 19. Little Calabash Cay and Big Calabash East Two 20. Big Calabash Cay and Big Calabash East One 21. Soldier Cay 22. Soldier Cay sections 23. Blackbird Cay and Pelican Cay 24, The Cockroach Group 25. Cockroach Cay 26. Harry Jones Point 27. Lighthouse Reef 28. Sandbore Cay 29. Northern Cay 30. HaLf Moon Cay: Topography 31. Half Moon Cay: Composition 32. Half Moon Cay in 1828 33. Half Moon Cay: Vegetation change 34. Half Moon Cay: Ve~etationdistribution 35. Long Cay (~i&tho;se ~eef) 36. Hat Cav 37. lover's Reef 38. Northeast Cay: Physiography 39. Northeast Cay: Vegetation 40. Long Cay North 41. Long Cay l lover 's ~eef): Physiography 42. Long Cay (Glover's Reef ): Vegetation 43. Middle Cay: Physiography 44. Long Cay and Middle Cay: Sections 45. Middle Cay: Vegetation 46. Southwest Cay I: Physiography 47. Southtrest Cay I: Vegetation 48. Southvest Cay I1 49. Schematic cross-see-tions of atolls 1.. INTRODUCTION In his "Checklist of Atolls", Bryan (1953) li.sted a total Of 27 at.011-like structures in the Caribbean, three of which a,re located off the coast of British Honduras (cf. Cloud, 1957, 1013-1011). The Turneffe Islands he considered Itnot sufficiently surveyed to determine formv; Lighthouse Reef he described as "atoll-ljke, 5 cays"; and Gbver's Reef as "sunken atoll-like, 5 small cays". Until recently this survey represented the total of our knowledge of these atolls, perhaps the least well-known and probably the finest structures of their type in the Caribbean Sea. Location Location of the atolls on published charts derives from surveys of the period 1820-1830, and no attempt is made to show details of form or topography. Figure 1 shows the atolls as surveyed by Captain Richard Owen, from a manuscript map (H57) dated October 1830 in the possession Of the Hydrographic Department, Admiralty; in many respects it is more detailed than subsequently published charts, which are based on it. Figure 2 attempts to combine published charts of the location of the atolls with maps of detailed form derived from air photographs. These airphoto maps are reduced from the large scale maps included with this paper in the accounts of each individual atoll. It will be seen that Lighthouse Reef as shown on figure 2 corresponds well with representa- tions on charts; Turneffe Islands correspond in gross form, but much la3oon detail is added; while Glover's Reef, though broadly similar on figures 1 and 2, differs considerably in figure 2 from published charts. The following survey of the location of the atolls is derived from published charts. The coast of British Honduras is fringed by a submerged coastal shelf ed ed by a well-developed barrier reef. In the latitude of Belize (178 30tN), the shelf lagoon is 8 miles wide. Beyond the barrier in this latitude, a channel 11 miles wide separates the shelf from Turneffe. This channel varies in width from 54 to 14 miles, being narrowest in the centre. Turneffe bank itself has a maximum length of 30.5 miles along its NFE-SSId axis; its greatest width, at the latitude of Soldier Cay, is 10 miles, and the average width 5-6 miles. It covers approximately 205 square miles, and its co-ordinates, from charts, are: North extremity (drying reef) 17o38'0OVN South extremity (Cay flolcel) 17°09t00"~ Eastern extremity (northeast corner) $7'44 130111~1 IhIestern extremity (west side) 87O57' 3OW Lighthouse Reef is situated east of Turneffe, from which it is separated by a channel 114 to 18 miles wide; again the channel narrows towards the middle and widens at its ends. The distance between Cay Bokel (south end of Turneffe) and Hat Cay (south end of Lighthouse Reef) 19 miles. The maximum length of Liphthouse Reef along its NNE-ijSItJ axis is 22 miles, and its width varies from 2 to 4 3/4 miles. The approxi- mate area is 78.5 square miles, and its co-ordinates, from charts, are: North extremity (Sandbore Cay) 17E28'30"~ South extremity (reef) 17 07'00"N Eastern extremity (northeast reef) 87O27' 00"W Western extremity (southwest reef) 87'36 130W Glover's Reef is located 15 miles SSE of the south end of Turneffe, and 134 miles SSW of the south end of Lighthouse Reef. Like Turneffe it is separated from the coastal shelf and barrier reef by a channel 135-17 miles wide, narrowest at its northern end, between Glover's Reef and Cay Glory. Glover's Reef is aligned NNE-SSW, following the trend of the southern barrier reef. South of Glover's Reef, the barrier reef swings eastwards, forming the pronounced elbow at Gladden Spit, and then westwards to form the bight between Glover's Reef and the barrier. The channel thus formed on the south side of Glover's Reef, between it and the barrier, is 134 miles wide.