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An Early Cretaceous siliceous large igneous province (SLIP) that developed on the eastern margin of Gondwana produced some of the most voluminous siliceous volcaniclastic deposits known globally. We report U-Pb ages and trace-element and Hf-isotopic signatures of detrital zircons from the Madura Shelf (onshore Bight Basin), Western Australia. These zircons include a geochemically distinct 106 Ma component with age and Hf characteristics that match SLIP volcanics some 2300 km distant in eastern Australia. This young subpopulation shows limited grain abrasion, which contrasts with older detrital components that are stratigraphically persistent. Regional detrital zircon provenance demonstrates that sediment routing systems were disconnected in the eastern and western Bight Basin, negating terrestrial transport mechanisms as a possible vector of the zircons from the SLIP to their recovered position. Palynology indicates that the 106 Ma zircons are syn-depositional, and we interpret them as being significantly transported in an eruption plume. Given the grain size and distance from source, such distal zircon emplacement suggests previously undocumented 106 Ma super-eruptions. The 106 Ma zircons likely reflect Southern Hemisphere winter eruptions when tropospheric polar easterly winds would have been favored across southeastern Australia.

Reef islands are unique landforms composed entirely of sediment produced on the surrounding coral reefs. Despite the fundamental importance of these ecological-sedimentary links for island development and future maintenance, reef island sediment production regimes remain poorly quantified. Using census and sedimentary data from Vakkaru island (Maldives), a sand-dominated atoll interior island, we quantify the major sediment-generating habitats, the abundance of sediment producers in these habitats, and the rates and size fractions of sediment generated by different taxa. The estimated annual sediment production is 685,000 kg (or 370 m3), ~75% of which is produced on the narrow outer reef flat, despite composing only 21% of the total platform area. Approximately 65% of the platform acts solely as a sediment sink. Census data identify parrotfish as the major sediment producers, generating >85% of the 5.7 kg m–2 of new sand-grade sediment produced on the outer reef flat each year. Halimeda (macroalgae) produce a further 10%, most as gravel-grade material. Comparisons between production estimates and sedimentary data indicate that reef ecology and island sedimentology are tightly linked; reef flat and lagoon sediments are dominated by coral and Halimeda, although fine- to medium-grained coral sand is the dominant (~59%) island constituent. The generation of sediment suitable for maintaining this reef island is thus critically dependent on a narrow zone of high-productivity reef, but most especially on the maintenance of healthy parrotfish populations that can convert reef framework to sand-grade sediment.

Carbonate platform evolution around the island of Rodrigues, southwestern Indian Ocean, is reconstructed from cores recovered across the platform's windward margin. In contrast to the classic "bucket-fill"model of carbonate platform evolution, whereby platform filling occurs predominantly as a function of the lagoonward transport of sediment from the reef rim, data from Rodrigues demonstrate that the primary mode of platform filling was through reef progradation from the platform interior seaward. Indeed, radiocarbon dates indicate that much of the platform interior had filled by ~2000 cal. (calibrated) yr B.P. Data also indicate that the reef rim probably caught up with sea level only in the past ~1000 yr, and subsequent export of sediment from those areas into the lagoon has probably only become important during the final stages of the platform's evolution. We interpret this as a function of the platform margin reef's catch-up growth mode. This would have allowed significant marine circulation within the platform interior, thus promoting active reef growth prior to sea level being attained. Given that such catch-up growth modes are widely recognized on many reef/platform margins, we suggest that this novel platform evolutionary model may have widespread applicability