Hydrodynamics shapes annularity in coral reefs via scale-free growth processes

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that interactions between coral growth and marine currents can self-organize into annular reef structures across various scales, explaining their geometric regularities through a scale-free growth process.

Contribution

The paper introduces a numerical model showing how coral-current interactions can generate annular reef patterns, providing a mechanistic explanation for scale-free reef geometries.

Findings

Simulations produce ring-like reefs consistent with observed morphologies.

Emergent reefs reproduce key geometric signatures such as scaling laws and fractal dimensions.

Hydrodynamic stress and resource supply drive local coral colonization and mortality.

Abstract

Atolls are traditionally explained as the result of coral reefs accreting around volcanic islands followed by gradual subsidence, yielding a hollow, ring-shaped rim that can extend for kilometres. However, satellite imagery shows that similar annular outlines also appear in much smaller patch reefs, where atoll-forming geological pathways do not apply. In some systems, small annular patches occur within the lagoons of larger atolls, producing nested ring-like patterns. The recurrence of annularity across such contrasting contexts and scales suggests that shared, self-organising processes may also contribute to shaping these reefs. Here, we test whether interactions between reef growth and marine currents can generate annular forms and explain their cross-scale geometric regularities. We develop a numerical model in which coral growth follows simple process-based rules, with local colonisation and mortality depending on resource supply and hydrodynamic stress, and water flow resolved using fluid dynamics. Simulations show that this coupling robustly produces ring-like patch reefs and atoll-like configurations across spatial scales, consistent with observed morphologies. Beyond qualitative agreement, the emergent reefs reproduce key geometric signatures reported in global datasets, including scaling laws and fractal dimensions. Together, these results identify coral-current interactions as a plausible pathway to annular reef formation and a mechanistic explanation for scale-free reef geometry.