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OTHER VARIANTS OF REEF

• Patch reef – an isolated, comparatively small reef outcrop, usually within a lagoon or embayment, often circular and surrounded by sand or seagrass. Patch reefs are common.


• Apron reef – a short reef resembling a fringing reef, but more sloped; extending out and downward from a point or peninsular shore.


• Bank reef – a linear or semi-circular shaped-outline, larger than a patch reef


• Ribbon reef – a long, narrow, somewhat winding reef, usually associated with an atoll lagoon.


• Table reef – an isolated reef, approaching an atoll type, but without a lagoon.


• Microatolls – certain species of corals form communities called microatolls. The vertical growth of microatolls is limited by average tidal height. Microatolls can be used as a low resolution record of patterns of sea level change.


• Cays – small, low-elevation, sandy islands formed on the surface of a coral reef.


• When a coral reef cannot keep up with the sinking of a volcanic island, a seamount or guyot is formed. Seamounts and guyots are below the surface of the ocean and may host many species, depending on their location and depth. Seamounts are rounded at the top and guyots are flat. The flat top of the guyot, also called a tablemount, is due to erosion by waves, winds, and atmospheric processes.