DECADENT CORAL REEF ON ENIWETOK ISLAND, MARSHALL GROUP
The fringing reef on Eniwetok Island consists of four zones, which in seaward order are (1) beach conglomerate; (2) beveled limestone platform; (3) pool and pothole zone; and (4) Lithothamnium ridge. The ridge is honeycombed and channelled rather than a series of miniature terraces typical of such reefs elsewhere in the Pacific. Live corals are scarce, and inland of the ridge the reef is wave-eroded limestone. The hypothesis is offered that a very late local change of level of a few feet in the Marshall Islands caused the decadence of the reef.