Mud threat to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia

[Extract] The Cairns coast (Figure 1) of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia has been influenced by human-induced erosion. Over the last 100 years in this area much of the forest and natural coastal vegetation and wetlands have been modified to permit urban, port, industrial and agricultural development (Wolanski 1994; Larcombe et al. 1996; Wachenfeld et al. 1997). The coastal rivers have become drains bringing eroded sediment to settle as mud in the estuaries, in the coastal shallows and on the inshore reefs. Additional mud from dredging the port of Cairns is dumped in coastal waters. The resulting addition of nutrient-rich mud to the sea is considered by some to be one of the most threatening impacts on coastal reefs of the Great Barrier Reef system (Bell and Elmetri 1995).

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Muddy Coasts of the World: processes, deposits and function

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978-0-444-51019-8

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