Maya Baltz

Title of Work: 

Creating Representations of Coral Microatoll Morphology for Comparison

Abstract:

Coral microatolls found in shallow areas grow in a hemispherical shape until they hit sea level, die down and then continue growing upward and outward. This leaves a measurable affect on their morphology which remains long after the coral has died. Given a variety of factors, such as erosion, transects taken from different parts of the coral may differ greatly. The focus of the work was to find a way to represent overall coral morphology for comparison between microatolls. This was achieved by selecting multiple transects from each coral then averaging each of their “rings” – areas between die downs. The method created an overall “shape” of the coral which also visually conveyed elevation differences between transects. These shapes could be compared to parse historical data about sea levels the coral experienced. This data is valuable in predicting future sea levels, which is important to human activity and safety.

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