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A new great barrier reef, rising more than 500 meters from the ocean floor, has been found off the north coast of Australia, the first such discovery in more than a century.
The top of the reef, which stretches about 300 meters in length, lies just 40 meters below the surface and has been described as “thriving” by a scientist who discovered it.
Estimated to be 20 million years old at its deepest part, the reef was found last week by researchers aboard the research vessel of the U.S.-based Schmidt Ocean Institute. Falkor when mapping the seabed.
The 500-meter-high reef is found in waters 93 miles south of the tip of Cape York
DEAN MILLER / SCHMIDT OCEAN INSTITUTE
The structure is a “detached” reef, lying on the ocean floor and not part of the main body of the nearby Great Barrier Reef.
“It has a thriving coral community at its peak”,
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