A hurricane gap can redirect tidal flow and kill corals far from the gap

Evidence

In contrast, the 1972 hurricane caused a major physical change to the north reef crest by removing a short section of the crest. As a result, at low tide the water on the reef flat drained through this gap instead of flowing over the reef crest. At low tide the crest then dried out completely for several hundred meters on each side of this gap, killing all but a few scattered massive mounds that happened to be located in small tide pools. — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 892

Categorization

• XREF: Illustrates indirect and spatially propagated disturbance effects — a physical mechanism that parallels how a windthrow gap changes local hydrology and drainage on land, useful for the landscape course.