GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY OF THE CANAL ZONE. 



307 



regarding submergence and devoted particular attention to the 

 effects of wind-induced currents in shaping atolls. They also say: 



It may be allowed, though Darwin deprecated the idea, that the continental shelf 

 was ready prepared with numerous banks representing eroded islands, just reaching 

 to within the required distance of the surface, when the first coral builders came. 1 



On a subsequent page they add: 



Whatever the history of the Great Barrier Reef was, the reefs of the Coral Sea, such 

 as Lihou Reefs, Flinders Reefs, and Herald Cays, shared in it. 2 



I have stated in one of my papers : 3 



An inspection of the admiralty charts for the eastern coast of Australia shows con- 

 clusively that the platform on which the Great Barrier Reef of Australia stands has 



300 



■ 56/2 m//es • 



Fig. 20.— Profiles across continental shelf, east side of Australia. The latitude at the inter- 

 section OF each profile with the shore line is followed by a statement of the direction of 

 the profile from the shore. 

 South of the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef: 



1. From shore east of Leading Hill, S. Lat. 25° 26' 15", South 82° East. 



2. From base of Sandy Cape, S. Lat. 24°, 53' 40", North 68° East. 



3. From Toowong Hill, S. Lat. 24° 22' 4", North 45° East, passing between Lady Elliot and 



Lady Musgrove Islands. 

 Across the Great Barrier Reef: 



4. From Rodd Peninsula, S. Lat. 24° 0' 0", North 50° East. 



5. From Georges Point, Hinchinbrook Island, S. Lat. 18° 25' 40", North 72° 30' East. 



an existence independent of the Great Barrier Reef, and that corals have established 

 themselves on this platform where the conditions favorable for their life are realized. 



Daly has given cross-sections of the Australian shelf both south of 

 and across the Great Barrier Reef in two of his papers, 4 and I have 

 presented a series of cross-sections in one of mine, 5 both of us basing 

 our profiles on the British Admiralty charts. There is one important 

 fact shown by both Daly's and my profiles, but which Daly seems 

 not to have emphasized. It is that the platform not only continues 



1 Coral leefs of the Great Barrier, Queensland, p. 406. 



2 Idem., p. 413. 



3 Washington Acad. Sci., Journ., vol. 4, p. 32, 1914. 



4 Daly, R. A., The glacial-control theory of coral reefs, Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci., vol. 51, p. 197, figs. 

 21-24, 1915; Problems of the Pacific Islands, Amer. Journ. Sci., ser. 4, vol. 41, p. 179, figs. 26-29, Feb. 1916. 



5 Washington Acad. Sci. Journ., vol. 6, p. 64, profiles Nos. 1-5, 8-14, 1916. 



