Geology topics

Rafe Boulon

Publications and source records attributed to Rafe Boulon.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2008

Ecology of coral reefs in the US Virgin Islands

The US Virgin Islands (USVI ) in the northeastern Caribbean, consist of St. Croix (207 km 2 ), St. Thomas (83 km 2 ), St. John (52 km 2 ) and numerous smaller islands (Dammann and Nellis 1992). They are part of the Lesser Antilles and Leeward Islands on the eastern boundary of the Caribbean plate (Fig. 8.1). An extensive platform underlies St. Thomas and St. John and connects these islands to Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands. This platform extends about 32 km north of the islands and then slopes gradually to depths of over 300 m and eventually descends into the 8,000 m deep Puerto Rican Trench. South of the islands, the platform extends about 13 km and then abruptly drops off to over 4,000 m. St. Croix, about 60 km to the south, is on a separate platform which is much shallower than the northern Virgin Islands’ platform and extends less than 5 km from shore except on the east end of the island. The deepest part of the Virgin Islands Trough that separates St. Thomas and St. John from St. Croix is 4,200 m.

Virgin Islands↗

USGS2007

Characterising reef fish populations and habitats within and outside the US Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument: A lesson in marine protected area design

Marine protected areas are an important tool for management of marine ecosystems. Despite their utility, ecological design criteria are often not considered or feasible to implement when establishing protected areas. In 2001, the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICRNM) in St John, US Virgin Islands was established by Executive Order. The VICRNM prohibits almost all extractive uses. Surveys of habitat and fishes inside and outside of the VICRNM were conducted in 2002-2004. Areas outside the VICRNM had significantly more hard corals, greater habitat complexity, and greater richness, abundance and biomass of reef fishes than areas within the VICRNM. The administrative process used to delineate the boundaries of the VICRNM did not include a robust ecological characterisation of the area. Because of reduced habitat complexity within the VICRNM, the enhancement of the marine ecosystem may not be fully realised or increases in economically important reef fishes may take longer to detect. ?? 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation ?? 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Fisheries Management and Ecology↗

USGS2000

Analysis of USVI coastal feature products from the 1980s and 1990s

The authors have used color stereo photos along with a three-dimensional visualization photogrammetric software package, Socet Set, to produce orthophotometric-corrected mosaics of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. These mosaics are used for numerous applications such as characterization of the shallow water benthic habitat, terrestrial habitat characterizations, and development planning. Examples of the mosaics and products derived from the mosaics will be shown along with accuracy assessments and verification results.

U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Croix, St. John, St. Thom↗