Larger “detached” cliff of the Empire State Building discovered 500 meters of water off Queensland

Researchers have discovered a new skyscraper-high coral reef in the waters off Cape York in northern Queensland.

The “detached” coral reef – the first to be discovered in more than 120 years – is about 1.5 kilometers long and rises from over 500 meters to 40 meters below the surface.

Researchers discovered the coral reef, estimated to be 20 million years old at its deepest part, on October 20 during a 12-month mapping project of Australia’s oceans. The fan-tastic pineapple piques the interest of biology students

A “detached” reef refers to a reef located on the ocean floor and is not part of the main body of the Great Barrier Reef.

The newly discovered reef is in a group of seven other detached reefs that were mapped in the 1800s, however the marine ecosystem on top of this latest discovery appeared to be more vibrant than the others, according to research leader Robin Beaman of James Cook University (JCU)

“When we got to the ridge – it’s only 300 meters by 50 meters wide – we found a lot of fish and also a healthy shark population.”

The detached coral reefs of this nature act as isolated seamounts, according to Dr. Beaman. Since there is a lot of deep water between it and the next coral community, they have the potential to evolve unique species.

The team explored the reef using an underwater robot called “SuBastian”, which has a remotely controlled arm, to collect samples for identification.

“As a collective on everything [12-month] expedition, we found a lot of new species, ”said Dr. Beaman.

“It will take some time to work on the images and samples we have collected before we can tell if there are any new species [at this reef] or not.”

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They made the discovery about 80 kilometers east of Cape Grenville, which is about 150 kilometers south of the tip of Cape York on Queensland’s east coast.

Researchers have discovered a new coral reef building evident within the photic zone, extending to about 200 meters.

The photic zone – where enough sunlight penetrates to provide direct energy via photosynthesis – would have moved up and down the reef over time with sea level fluctuations.

During the last Ice Age, when the oceans were about 120 meters lower than today, part of the reef would have been in much shallower water, or even exposed.

“The longest marine creature in the world recorded” among the new finds

Scientists are working aboard the “Falkor” research vessel, funded by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a research organization founded by American philanthropist and entrepreneur Wendy Schmidt, and her husband, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Several new species have already been discovered during the project, as well as the “longest marine creature in the world recorded” – a 45-meter-long siphonophore in the Ningaloo Canyon off Western Australia, according to Schmidt Ocean Institute spokeswoman Carlie Wiener.

A siphonophore is a colonial organism composed of zooids, multicellular animals that are functionally specialized to allow the colony to digest food, float, reproduce and move in water.

He said their latest coral reef discovery proved the project’s worth.

“This is proof of the importance of exploring our underwater environment so that we can protect it.”

Today’s announcement comes just two weeks after the results were released that half of the corals on the Great Barrier Reef have died from climate change-induced coral bleaching since 1995.

Co-author of that study, James Cook University reef scientist Terry Hughes said the extent of deeper coral reefs like this one – known as mesophotic reefs – is only now becoming known because technology has improved.

“Mesophotic reefs – reefs deeper than 30 meters – it turns out that there is probably at least as much coral habitat below 30 meters as above, and people are still mapping it,” said Professor Hughes.

Due to their depth and distance from the shore, Mesophotic reefs are less susceptible to bleaching, cyclones, fishing pressure and land pollution, however they are still degrading, albeit at a slower rate than their counterparts in shallow waters.

But because of what’s known as “zoning,” mesophotic reefs won’t help supply shallow reefs damaged by bleaching events or other impacts, he said.

Zoning refers to the limited depth range to which most corals and other marine species are limited.

“There has been some speculation that has been resolved quite well now, that deep reefs could be reserves for shallow ones. This is not the case,” he said.

“Many corals are shallow water specialists and others are deep water specialists and only a few have a wider depth range. There are corals that you only find at depths less than five meters. [and] there are other corals that you only find deeper than 30. “

While discoveries like this are interesting, Professor Hughes said we still need to urgently reduce emissions to protect shallower corals.

“We still have the opportunity to save the reef if we tackle climate change. So far 1.1 degrees of warming have triggered five bleaching events since 1998. [but] we still have half a coral reef. “

“What [warming] stabilizes at will. It is feasible from 1.5 to 2 ° C, but the mix of species will be different. It already is.

“If we go to 3 or 4C it will be a pretty sad state of affairs.”