Scientists have discovered a huge reef, which is located behind a long time friend of the Great Barrier reef.
Sea cliff had a rather unusual round form, they were 200-300 meters wide and 10 meters deep.
Scientists from the University of Sydney and Queensland University of Technology worked from photographs of the seabed, provided by specially equipped aircraft “LIDAR”. “We know about these geological structures in the Northern part of the Great Barrier reef from 1970-ies and 80-ies, but never before had information about their shape and size, said Robin Beaman from James cook University. – The deeper was the bottom of the sea, more striking was the reefs”.
“Sea cliff is formed of small flakes of limestone, from afar they look very white. Over time, these flakes accumulate and apoptone build large mounds that become just a huge, told Mardi McNeil from the University of Queensland. – Currently, we have estimated the rocks area of over 6000 square kilometers.”
Associate Professor Jody Webster from the University of Sydney, said that the discovery and elucidation of the longest reefs are forced to think about climate change. “The limestone used to build the reefs may be susceptible to ocean acidification and warming. If he was affected, and if so, to what extent? This discovery gives the opportunity to explore many other areas of our business. For example, what do reefs at depths of 10-20 meters. Perhaps they can tell us about past climatic and ecological changes in the Great Barrier reef for 10 thousand years,” Webster said.
