Corals as speaking stones

摘要

Corals are animals living in shallow seas (wherethey may form coral reefs) or in the deep sea. Because theyfossilize well, these 'stones' inform us in detail about thegeological past; not only about the history of the Earth as a whole(rotation, tectonics, sea-level changes), but also about past localenvironmental conditions in the sea. Joint research of marinebiology and marine geology can therefore solve many questionsabout our changing world, and can be used to discover whatfactors cause deterioration of living coral reefs.