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Dense,
massive coral growth on the patch reef. |
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Dense
coral growth of platy and stick-shaped corals on the
patch reef. |
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Platy
coral (Acropora palmata) growing on the patch
reef. |
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Rhomboid
Patch Reefs in Southern Belize with Deep Central Lagoons |
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Rhomboid
patch reefs in the platform interior behind the Belize barrier
reef. |
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Thickets
of Acropora
cervicornis coral cover the surface of the
rhomboid patch reefs. |
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Rock
Types |
Patch
reefs are common in the ancient record and occur as boundstones
with associated packstones and grainstones. The frame-building
organisms changed through time but all played the same role
in the construction of a topographic, high-energy-positive
area, as compared with the adjacent low-energy muddy or sandy
areas. |
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Truncated
rudist patch reef with accretionary talus bedding from the
Lower Cretaceous in Texas. |
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Caprinid
rudist bafflestone from the Lower Cretaceous in Texas. |
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 |
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Branching
hydrozoan bafflestone from a patch reef in the Lower
Cretaceous of South Texas. |
Bindstone
with wackestone matrix from a patch reef in the Lower
Cretaceous of South Texas. |
Massive
coral framestone with wackestone matrix from a patch
reef in the Lower Cretaceous of South Texas.
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