Reference Edition
Field Reference for Natural Places Geography Atlas
Reef Hub

Coral systems, shelf edges, and shallow marine chains.

The reef hub holds marine geography pages focused on coral structure, shallow shelf setting, barrier systems, and coastal marine edges that support long-form atlas records.

Diagram of a shallow reef shelf with coral branches, lagoon water, and offshore wave lines.
Lead Records

Marine geography anchors

Reef records should stay geographic: shelf position, chain extent, barrier form, lagoon structure, and linked coastal setting.

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Western Australia Fringing Reef

Ningaloo Reef

A nearshore reef record centered on lagoon form, Cape Range, narrow-shelf relief, arid drainage, and eastern Indian Ocean currents.

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Northwest Australian Reef Province

Kimberley Reefs

A regional reef record centered on tidal platforms, drowned sandstone relief, coastal turbidity, offshore atolls, monsoon runoff, and North West Shelf connections.

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Western Australian Shelf Atolls

Rowley Shoals

An outer North West Shelf record centered on three annular reefs, contrasting lagoons, eastern passages, steep platform flanks, tidal exchange, and Indian Ocean exposure.

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Sahul Shelf-Edge Platform Reef

Ashmore Reef

An outer Sahul Shelf record centered on a broad platform reef, contrasting eastern and western lagoons, low sand cays, tidal exchange, monsoon exposure, and deeper-water connections.

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Marine Shelf Record

Red Sea Coral Reef

A reef record centered on fringing reef shelves, rift-basin margins, arid coasts, and restricted sea exchange.

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Caribbean Reef Record

Belize Barrier Reef

A barrier reef and shelf-lagoon record centered on cayes, offshore atolls, Caribbean water exchange, and coastal links.

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Bahamian Bank Record

Andros Barrier Reef

A Bahamian bank-margin reef record centered on the Tongue of the Ocean, reef-wall relief, blue-hole karst, and storm exposure.

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Caribbean Reef Province

Mesoamerican Barrier Reef

A western Caribbean reef province record centered on barrier segments, shelf lagoons, cayes, currents, runoff, and Central American coastal links.

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Atlantic Shelf Record

Florida Reef

A Florida Keys reef tract record centered on outer reefs, Hawk Channel, carbonate-platform relief, warm currents, and storm exposure.

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Northwestern Gulf Shelf-Edge Banks

Flower Garden Banks

A submerged bank system centered on salt-dome relief, isolated reef caps, deep intervening seafloor, Gulf circulation, winter fronts, and hurricane exposure.

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Southern Caribbean Record

Bonaire Reef

A Leeward Antilles fringing-reef record centered on narrow island shelves, steep fore-reef relief, limestone terraces, trade winds, and deep Caribbean connections.

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Equatorial Atlantic Shelf

Amazon Reef

A plume-influenced outer-shelf reef record centered on mesophotic carbonate relief, Amazon River discharge, sediment gradients, and current flow.

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Mindoro Strait Atoll Record

Apo Reef

A Philippine atoll-like reef record centered on Mindoro Strait setting, lagoon platforms, low islands, marine passes, and monsoon exposure.

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Sulu Sea Atoll Record

Tubbataha Reefs

A Philippine atoll reef record centered on Sulu Sea basin setting, reef flats, lagoons, steep walls, monsoon exposure, and Palawan links.

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Eastern Indonesian Reef Province

Raja Ampat Reefs

An archipelagic reef record centered on island-shelf structure, limestone karst, straits, equatorial rainfall, and western New Guinea links.

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Indian Ocean Atoll Chain

Maldives Coral Reefs

An oceanic atoll-chain record centered on ridge setting, reef rims, deep lagoons, low coral islands, monsoon circulation, and equatorial Indian Ocean links.

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Central Indian Ocean Atolls

Chagos Archipelago Reefs

An oceanic atoll-and-bank record centered on submarine-ridge foundations, reef rims, lagoons, low islands, deep-water relief, and equatorial circulation.

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Central Indian Ocean Bank

Great Chagos Bank

A mostly submerged atoll record centered on its broken reef rim, broad lagoon platform, low coral islands, steep oceanic slopes, and monsoon-influenced circulation.

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Western Indian Ocean Reef Province

Seychelles Coral Reefs

A bank-and-atoll reef record centered on granitic inner islands, coralline outer groups, reef flats, lagoons, deep-water margins, and monsoon circulation.

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Central Mascarene Plateau Bank

Saya de Malha Bank

A wholly submerged carbonate-bank record centered on its ring reef, shallow and deep lagoons, limestone platform, steep oceanic flanks, and current-driven mixing.

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Southwest Pacific Reef Province

Fiji Coral Reefs

A volcanic-island reef record centered on fringing and barrier reefs, shelf lagoons, deep passages, high-island runoff, trade winds, and southwest Pacific links.

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Western Pacific Barrier Reef

Palau Barrier Reef

A western Pacific island-platform record centered on a barrier rim, lagoon shelves, reef passes, mixed volcanic and limestone relief, steep outer slopes, and monsoon circulation.

Thumbnail image credits 24 sources

Images are stored locally from Wikimedia Commons. Each centre-cropped thumbnail remains under its listed licence, with creator and source details below.

  1. Great Barrier Reef — NASA/Kjell Lindgren, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  2. Ningaloo Reef — Eugene Regis, CC BY 2.0. Centre-cropped for display.
  3. Kimberley Reefs — Envisat satellite, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. Centre-cropped for display.
  4. Rowley Shoals — NASA-JSC, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  5. Ashmore Reef — Wikimedia Commons contributor, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  6. Red Sea Coral Reef — Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0. Centre-cropped for display.
  7. Belize Barrier Reef — MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  8. Andros Barrier Reef — Rs3 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Centre-cropped for display.
  9. Mesoamerican Barrier Reef — Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0. Centre-cropped for display.
  10. Florida Reef — NOAA National Marine Fisheries Servie, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  11. Flower Garden Banks — NOAA, National Marine Sanctuaries, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  12. Bonaire Reef — Michal Strzelecki, Wojtek Strzelecki & Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY 3.0. Centre-cropped for display.
  13. Amazon Reef — Philip Terry Graham, CC0. Centre-cropped for display.
  14. Apo Reef — Tomacruz at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Centre-cropped for display.
  15. Tubbataha Reefs — Anna Varona, CC BY 4.0. Centre-cropped for display.
  16. New Caledonia Barrier Reef — the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus on NASA’s Landsat 7 satellite, Jesse Allen, Michon Scott., Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  17. Raja Ampat Reefs — Rizalubun, CC BY-SA 4.0. Centre-cropped for display.
  18. Maldives Coral Reefs — Bruno de Giusti, CC BY-SA 2.5 it. Centre-cropped for display.
  19. Chagos Archipelago Reefs — NOAA, adapted by user Ratzer, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  20. Great Chagos Bank — Mohonu at en.wikipedia, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  21. Seychelles Coral Reefs — NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  22. Saya de Malha Bank — Mohonu, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
  23. Fiji Coral Reefs — Rickard Törnblad, CC BY-SA 4.0. Centre-cropped for display.
  24. Palau Barrier Reef — Matt Kieffer from London, United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0. Centre-cropped for display.