High frequency of super-cyclones along the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, over the past 5,000 yrs  

Authors / CoAuthors

Nott, J. | Hayne, M.

Abstract

Understanding the long-term periodicity of extreme intensity tropical cyclones is important for determining their role as ecological disturbance mechanisms1-5; for predicting present and future community vulnerability and economic loss6; and for assessing whether changes in their variability are a function of anthropogenically induced climate change7. Our ability to accurately make these assessments has been limited by the short (<100yrs) instrumented cyclone record. We overcame this problem by determining the intensity of prehistoric tropical cyclones that deposited ridges of detrital coral and shell above highest tide over the past 5,000 years and eroded terraces into coarse-grained alluvial fans that form sea-cliffs. These features occur along 1500 km of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and also the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. They were formed by storms with recurrence intervals of 2-3 centuries8-11 and our results show that the cyclones responsible were of extreme intensity (<920 hPa central pressure). This revised frequency of super-cyclones is an order of magnitude higher than the previously estimated once every several millennia and is sufficiently high to suggest the character of rainforests and coral reef communities is shaped by these events.

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nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

38111

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Keywords

• External PublicationScientific Journal Paper

( Theme )

• geohazards

( Theme )

• marine

• AU-QLD

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Earth Sciences

• Published_Internal

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2001-01-01T00:00:00

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

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geoscientificInformation

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