Marine cementation is an essential process for the stabilization of reef framework and resistance to mechanical erosion. It greatly controls carbonate platform geometry and the evolution of porosity in carbonate systems (Marshall 1983; Grammer et al. 1999). Beyond contributing to early coral-reef diagenesis, cementation is believed to encourage reef development both by producing new available substrate for benthic colonization and by maintaining the rigidity of modern and ancient reef structures (Marshall 1983). Marine cements have been well documented globally in numerous shallow reef habitats (see review by Macintyre and Marshall 1988). Contrastingly, there has been much less research regarding types and rates of syndepositional (geologically “instantaneous”) cementation in low-angle shelf mesophotic coral ecosystems (d = 30-150 m) that potentially provide refugia for impacted shallow-water systems as well as new sources of biodiversity (see review by Kahng et al. 2014).

Depth range
30- 45 m

Mesophotic “mentions”
12 x (total of 1125 words)

Classification
* Focused on 'mesophotic' depth range
* Focused on 'mesophotic coral ecosystem'

Fields
Geomorphology

Focusgroups
Scleractinia (Hard Corals)

Locations
US Virgin Islands

Platforms
SCUBA (open-circuit or unspecified)