Calcium Carbonate Production of the Mare Incognitum, the Upper Windward Reef Slope, at Enewetak Atoll

Abstract

Corals and algal pavement produce calcium carbonate more slowly on the windward reef slope of Enewetak Atoll than on the reef flat despite the high standing crop of reef-building organisms on the slope. The capacity of reefs to remain at or near sea level is therefore not determined primarily by growth on the seaward slope.