Bermuda's Coral Reefs EarthCache
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This Earthcache will bring you to a great spot for snorkeling called Tobacco Bay.... Enjoy the beauty...
Bermudas Coral Reefs
Although coral is often mistaken for a rock or a plant, it is actually composed of tiny, fragile animals called coral polyps. When people say coral, they are referring to these little animals and the skeletons they leave behind after they die.
Bermuda has over 20 different types of coral, and are known as Hard and Soft Coral. All of these help to make the larger structure that we call the Coral reef. Some of the more known coral in the Bermuda's water are the Sea Fans, Sea Feathers, Sea Whips and the Brain Coral..Hard corals grow in colonies and are the architects of coral reefs. They also create skeletons out of calcium carbonate (also known as limestone), a hard substance that eventually becomes rock, which Bermuda is made up of.
Soft corals, are soft and bendable and often resemble plants or trees. They are found in both tropical seas and in cool, dark regions. This information and more can be found on the Bermuda Biological Station for Research page, and Coral Reef Alliance..
Charles Darwin(British Scientist) has one of many theories on how the coral structures are formed.
There are 3 types.
1. Fringing Reef
An area along the shore where coral colonies have been able to grow
2. Barrier Reef
A coral zone seperated from land by a lagoon, This area is shallow with a sandy floor, patch reefs and patch seagrass.
3. Atoll
Ring like formation of reefs with a Lagoon inside the ring.
According to Darwin, Barrier reefs began as fringing reefs along the stores of a Volcano. Over millions of years the volcano sinks deeper and deeper into the sea, which causes the Sea Level to rise above the volcano and as the volcano disappears and the coral grows upwards to keep closer to the sun. The outward side of the coral reef grows fastest since ocean currents bring in the plankton (organisms that live in the water column) that the corals feed on. The volcano continues sinking until it disappears under the sea surface,, and this is known as an atoll, a ring of coral reefs surrounding the submerged, extinct volcano. To Log this cache you must complete the following.
1, What type of reef is Bermuda known as and why do you think that?
2. Name 3 different types of Hard or soft Coral you see in the water of Tobacco bay ?
3.(OPTIONAL ) If you have an underwater camera or you can purchase a throw away one.. take a picture of yourself snorkeling and a picture of some coral
4, (OPTIONAL) Take a picture of your gps overlooking the rock formations in the ocean.
This is a Bermuda Island Geocachers Cache...
Click here to go to the BermudaIslandGeocachers website BermudaIslandGeocachers or their facebook page BermudaIslandGeocachers
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