Corals as speaking stones

Abstract

Corals are animals living in shallow seas (where they may form coral reefs) or in the deep sea. Because they fossilize well, these 'stones' inform us in detail about the geological past; not only about the history of the Earth as a whole (rotation, tectonics, sea-level changes), but also about past local environmental conditions in the sea. Joint research of marine biology and marine geology can therefore solve many questions about our changing world, and can be used to discover what factors cause deterioration of living coral reefs.