珊瑚礁的悲哀

Sad Stories of Coral Reef

珊瑚礁不仅是美丽的水下花园,还是区域地质变化和环境变化的信息载体,海洋生物学家和海洋地质地貌学家考察了我国海南省三亚鹿回头半岛的珊瑚礁,告诉我们许多关于珊瑚礁变迁的故事。这里正成为独具特殊吸引力的海滨旅游景观资源。

Coral reefs have grown in the small Donghai Bay on the east bank of the Luhuitou (Deer Looking Backwards) Peninsula between Sanya Bay and Yulin Bay, as well as along the shores of the Luhuitou Bay on the western bank. Scientists have proved that the sediment of these coral reefs has a growth history of more than 8,000 years. During such a long period, thanks to an environment conducive to coral growth, the accumulation of calcium carbonate from small coral insects has led to this sediment of coral reefs, which, 10 meters thick, covers an area of 4.7 square kilometers, becoming the principle part of the Luhuitou Peninsula. During the 1970s and 1980s, local villagers, in addition to harvesting abundant sea products from the dense clump of corals under water, dug up a lot of lump coral reefs and coral gravel for building walls and roads and making lime. This caused serious damage. As a result, the live corals that had grown well during the 1960s disappeared, and some coral reef organisms of high economic value that used to be widely distributed became very rare. In addition, the seashore was seriously threatened by erosion. It is said that a coral reef is a showroom of mistakes by mankind. As it is underwater, many people were unaware of the problem for a long time.