Abstract of Seminar by Dr Piers Larcombe

"Turbidity and sedimentation in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon:  What does it all mean?"

"...There is considerable general, scientific and management interest in the potential ecological impacts of sediments transported on to the Great Barrier Reef shelf.  The rate of terrigenous sediment supply to the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR) coastline has probably increased in the last two hundred years due to human impacts on catchments."

Piers' talk will address the potential consequences of sediments per se, and address the concerns that corals within the GBR, and particularly those in the nearshore zone, might be under threat from changed regimes of turbidity and sedimentation.

These issues are assessed using information of the physics of sediment transport, geological data and modern information on sedimentary processes.

Piers' talk is designed to provide a perspective into which some of the current scientific and management concerns may be placed, by:

~ describing the location and nature of the main sediment bodies on the GBR shelf;
~ identifying the basic controls on GBR sediment distribution, including the main processes that introduce new sediment, and those that redistribute existing sediment; and
~ reviewing the fundamental controls upon turbidity and sedimentation, and the implications for the GBR with regard to potential changes induced by man."