Source: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2002/fs025-02/

Caption: Colonial “hard corals” form elaborate finger-shaped, branching, or mound-shaped structures and can create masses of limestone that stretch for tens or even hundreds of miles. Many coral reefs fringing coasts consist of nearshore inner reef flats that slope to deeper water fore reefs farther offshore. The reef crest, between the inner reef flat and outer fore reef, lies in extremely shallow water and may be exposed during the lowest tides. Waves commonly crash against or break on the reef crest. Fringing reefs help to protect harbors, beaches, and shorelines from erosion and wave damage by storms.

Graphic Design By Susan Mayfield and Sara Boore

Dieses Bild ist gemeinfrei (public domain), weil es Materialien beeinhaltet, die ursprünglich vom United States Geological Survey, einer Behörde des Innenministeriums der Vereinigten Staaten, stammen. Weitere Informationen finden Sie in den Urheberrechtsbestimmungen des USGS Bahasa Indonesia ∙ català ∙ čeština ∙ Deutsch ∙ eesti ∙ English ∙ español ∙ français ∙ galego ∙ italiano ∙ Nederlands ∙ português ∙ polski ∙ sicilianu ∙ suomi ∙ Tiếng Việt ∙ Türkçe ∙ български ∙ македонски ∙ русский ∙ മലയാളം ∙ 한국어 ∙ 日本語 ∙ 中文 ∙ 中文（简体） ∙ 中文（繁體） ∙ العربية ∙ فارسی ∙ +/−