Definition and introduction
The British Overseas Territory of Bermuda , a crescent-shaped chain of about 150 islands, lies in the north-west Atlantic Ocean at 32°20′N and 64°45′W, about 1,500 km south of Halifax, NS. The regional setting and geological foundation of Bermuda’s coral reefs are summarized in Logan (1992). Physiographically, Bermuda is an atoll , in that a peripheral annular reef tract and islands form a mostly submerged 26- by 52-km ellipse around a shallow central lagoon (Figure 1). The 20 m isobath separates this shallow platform from the fore-reef slope , with slopes of the latter rarely exceeding 10° seawards. The islands form the only emergent part of the Bermuda Seamount arising from 4,000 m depth and comprise a thin Pleistocene–Holocene carbonate sequence capping volcanic rocks below. The antecedent topography of this carbonate platform, formed from alternating periods of sediment movement and subaerial erosion...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Cook, C. B., Logan, A., Ward, J., Luckhurst, B., and Berg, C. J., 1990. Elevated temperatures and bleaching on a high latitude coral reef: the 1988 Bermuda event. Coral Reefs, 9, 45–49.
Cook, C. B., Dodge, R. E., and Smith, S. R., 1994. Fifty years of impacts on coral reefs of Bermuda. In Ginsberg, R. N. (ed.), Proceedings of the Colloquium on Global Aspects of Coral Reefs: Health, Hazards and History, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, 1993, pp. 160–166.
Dryer, S., and Logan, A., 1978. Holocene reefs and sediments of Castle Harbour, Bermuda. Journal of Marine Research, 36, 399–425.
Dodge, R. E., Logan, A., and Antonius, A., 1982. Quantitative reef assessment studies in Bermuda: a comparison of methods and preliminary results. Bulletin of Marine Science, 32, 745–760.
Flood, V. S., Pitt, J. M., and Smith, S. R., 2005. Historical and ecological analysis of coral communities in Castle Harbour (Bermuda) after more than a century of environmental perturbation. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 51, 545–557.
Garrett, P., and Scoffin, T. P., 1977. Sedimentation on Bermuda’s atoll rim. Proceedings of the 3rd International Coral Reef Symposium, Miami, Florida, 2, 87–95.
Jones, R. J., 2007. Chemical contamination of a coral reef by the grounding of a cruise ship in Bermuda. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 54, 905–911.
Jones, R. J., 2008. Environmental effects of sewage disposal practices in Bermuda. Abstract, Proceedings of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium. Florida: Fort Lauderdale.
Logan, A., 1988. The Holocene Reefs of Bermuda. Sedimenta XI. Miami: Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 63 pp.
Logan, A., 1992. Reefs, pp. 31–68. In Thomas, M. L. H., and Logan, A. (eds.), A guide to the Ecology of Shoreline and Shallow-Water Marine Communities of Bermuda. Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Special Publication, Vol. 30, pp. 27–68.
Logan, A., 1998. The high-latitude coral reefs of Bermuda: characteristics and comparisons. In Viera Rodriguez, M. A., and Haroun, R. (eds.), Proceedings of the Second Symposium of Fauna and Flora of the Atlantic Islands, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1996. Boletim do Museu Municipal do Funchal. suppl. 5, pp. 187–197.
Meischner, D., and Meischner, U., 1977. Bermuda south shore reef morphology – a preliminary report. Proceedings of the Third International Coral Reef Symposium, Miami, Florida, 2, 243–250.
Murdoch, T. J. T., 2007. A Functional Group Approach for Predicting the Composition of Hard Coral Assemblages in Florida and Bermuda. University of South Alabama, 326 pp.
Smith, S. R., 1992. Patterns of coral recruitment and post-settlement mortality on Bermuda's reefs: comparisons to Caribbean and Pacific reefs. American Zoologist, 32(6), 663–673.
Thomas, M. L. H., and Stevens, J., 1991. Communities of constructional lips and cup reef rims in Bermuda. Coral Reefs, 9, 225–230.
Online sites (URLs)
Bermuda Reef Ecosystem Assessment and Mapping Programme (BREAM): http://www.bermudabream.org
Bermuda Zoological Society’s aerial mosaic of Bermuda’s reef platform, hosted by LookBermuda: http://www.lookbermuda.com/PhotoMap/800x600.html
Marine Environmental Program (MEP) at Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS): http://www.bios-mep.info
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Logan, A., Murdoch, T. (2011). Bermuda. In: Hopley, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_46
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_46
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2638-5
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2639-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences