You are here: School of Geosciences / People / Postgraduates

Liz Abbey, BA Geosciences (Wellesley); BSc. Hons Geology (JCU)

PhD Candidate

Madsen Building (F09), Room 409
Phone: +61 2 9036 6539
Fax: +61 2 9351 3644
Email:

Supervisor
Dr. Jody Webster

Research

PhD: A history of reef response, climate change, and sea level fluctuations since the last deglaciation: Evidence from the Great Barrier Reef

Coral reefs are sensitive recorders of past environmental changes and ideally suited for studies of oceanographic and climatic variability over seasonal to millennial time scales. Since the last deglaciation (19-20 ka), sea level has risen ~120 m, and many reefs have subsequently been left at depth, either perished or languishing at depths outside the zone of rigorous reef growth. Evidence suggests periods of catastrophic sea level rise may have punctuated an otherwise smooth transgression, but it is uncertain if these “meltwater pulses” are the sole causes of reef death. The study of these submerged reefs is invaluable to our understanding of past climate changes, rates of sea level rise and reef response to these stresses. Submerged reefs have previously been identified on Australia’s Eastern margin, yet sampling and imaging has been extremely limited and only small-scale. This research will use a combination of remote sensing data and dredged samples collected onboard the RV Southern Surveyor (SS07/2007) to investigate the morphology and extent of the submerged reef features as well as the last stages of reef growth just prior to drowning at four sites on Australia’s shelf edge, east of the present-day Great Barrier Reef. Reef morphology will be examined using 4200 km2 of high-resolution multibeam swath bathymetry and backscatter, and dense grids of TOPAS and Sparker seismic profiles at the four sites between Cooktown and Mackay, QLD. Lateral extent of submerged features and morphological variation within and between sites will be investigated. Fossil coral and algal communities dredged from depths ranging from 45-160 m at 30 locations will be characterised, and ~100 specimens collected in situ will be radiocarbon dated at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) funded by a grant from the Australian Institute for Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE). As a comparison study on a subsiding volcanic island, the timing of reef drowning and the coral and algal community characteristics of the submerged reefs of Tahiti, French Polynesia will be investigated using drilled core from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP Expedition 310, Tahiti Sea-Level).

Research Projects

  • 2008-Present: Evolution of drowned shelf edge reefs in the GBR; implications for understanding abrupt climate change, coral reef response and modern deep water benthic habitats.
  • 2007-Present: Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 310 Tahiti Sea Level; the last deglacial sea level rise in the South Pacific: offshore drilling in Tahiti (French Polynesia).

Publications

  • Abbey, E. A. and Webster, J. M. “Submerged Reefs.” In Encyclopaedia of Modern Coral Reefs, edited by D. Hopley. New York: Springer-Verlag (in press)
  • Abbey, E. A., Webster, J. M., Braga, J.C., Sugihara, K., Wallace, C., Potts, D. C., Done, T., Camoin, G., Seard, C. (Submitted) Variation in postglacial coral algal assemblages and their paleoenvironmental significance: IODP Expedition 310, Tahiti Sea Level. Global and Planetary Change
  • Camoin, G., Seard, S, Deschamps, P., Webster, J, Abbey, E., Braga, J. C., Durand, N., Bard, E., and Yokoyama, Y. (Submitted) Reef response to sea-level and environmental changes during the last deglaciation. IODP Expedition 310 “Tahiti Sea Level”. Geology
  • Abbey, E. A., Webster, J. M. and Beaman, R. (In Prep). Morphological variation of submerged reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. Marine Geology
  • Abbey, E. A., Webster, J. M., Braga, J.C., Potts, D., Jacobsen, G. (In Prep). Coralgal composition and timing of submerged reef death on the Great Barrier Reef
  • Abbey, E. “Coral reef response to abrupt climate and sea-level change; evidence from Tahiti fossil reefs” BSc. Hons. Thesis, James Cook University, Townsville 2007

Conference Proceedings and Abstracts

  • Abbey, E., Webster, J., Jacobsen, G., Thomas, A., Henderson, G., Reimer, P., Braga, J.C., Camoin, G., Beaman, R., Tudhope, A., Bridge, T., George, N. Morphological variation, composition and age of submerged reefs on the Great Barrier Reef, Australian Earth Sciences Convention, Canberra, 4-8 July 2010
  • Abbey, E., Webster, J., Jacobsen, G., Thomas, A., Henderson, G., Reimer, P., Braga, J.C., Camoin, G., Beaman, R., Tudhope, A., Bridge, T., George, N. Morphological variation, composition and age of submerged reefs on the Great Barrier Reef. IODP – New Ventures In Exploring Scientific Targets, University of Bremen, Germany, 23-25 September 2009
  • Bridge, T., Webster, J., Beaman, R., Davies, P. Williams, S., Pizarro, O., Woolsey, E., Abbey, E., and Done, T., 2008. Exploring the Deep GBR Using AUV and Multibeam Data, 4th International Symposium on Deepsea Coral 2008, Wellington, 1-5 December 2008
  • Thomas, A. L., Abbey, E. A., Henderson, G. M., Tudhope, A. W., Webster, J. M., and Southern Surveyor SS07/2007 Scientists, 2008. Coral U-Th chronology: Prospects for the Great Barrier Reef, First EuroMARC Conference, Colle-sur-Loup, France, European Science Foundation, 15-17 September 2008
  • Abbey, E. A., Webster, J. M., Potts, D., Wallace, C., Sugihara, K., Done, T., Braga, J. C., Camoin, G., Seard, C. Tahiti fossil coralgal assemblages and their environmental significance. 2nd Post-Cruise Meeting, Tahiti, Vol. 310 Tahiti Sea-Level, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International, Inc., 12-16 November 2007
  • Abbey, E. A., Webster, J. M., Camoin, G., Seard, C., Braga, J. C., Yokoyama, Y. Are changes in the Tahiti fossil coralgal assemblages consistent with Meltwater pulse 1A and 1B? 2nd Post-Cruise Meeting, Tahiti, Vol. 310 Tahiti Sea-Level, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International, Inc., 12-16 November 2007
  • Abbey, E. A., Cannatella, C., Clark, H., Erdil, R. M., Knurek, E., Wall, A. M., Deciphering the geochemical history of Lake Waban, Ruhlman Conference, Wellesley, MA, USA, Wellesley College, 4 May 2005