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The history of the Great Barrier Reef is a long and diverse one, where many generations of coral have built a habitat that eventually was discovered and then later settled by humans. How was the Great Barrier Reef formed?
Oct 19, 2023 · The Great Barrier Reef, which extends for over 2,300 kilometers (1429 miles) along the northeastern coast of Australia, is home to over 9,000 known species. There are likely many more—new discoveries are frequently being made, including a new species of branching coral discovered in 2017.
- THE GREAT BARRIER REEF IS THE LARGEST ORGANIC STRUCTURE ON EARTH. The Great Barrier Reef is occasionally called the largest single organism on the planet.
- NOT AS MUCH OF THE REEF IS COVERED IN CORAL AS YOU MIGHT THINK. The name may be misleading you. Within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, coral covers only about six or seven percent of the territory.
- THE COLOSSAL REEF SYSTEM IS LARGER THAN MOST COUNTRIES. By spanning over 134,000 square miles, the Great Barrier Reef eclipses the sizes of over 100 countries.
- HALF OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF HAS DISAPPEARED SINCE THE MID 1980s. Although the Great Barrier Reef’s size still inspires awe, it is only about half as grand as it was a mere 30 years ago.
- Overview
- Geography
Great Barrier Reef, complex of coral reefs, shoals, and islets in the Pacific Ocean off the northeastern coast of Australia that is the longest and largest reef complex in the world. The Great Barrier Reef extends in roughly a northwest-southeast direction for more than 1,250 miles (2,000 km), at an offshore distance ranging from 10 to 100 miles (1...
The reef actually consists of some 2,100 individual reefs and some 800 fringing reefs (formed around islands or bordering coastlines). Many are dry or barely awash at low tide; some have islands of coral sand, or cays; and others fringe high islands or the mainland coast. In spite of this variety, the reefs share a common origin: each has been formed, over millions of years, from the skeletons and skeletal waste of a mass of living marine organisms. The “bricks” in the reef framework are formed by the calcareous remains of the tiny creatures known as coral polyps and hydrocorals, while the “cement” that binds these remains together is formed in large part by coralline algae and bryozoans. The interstices of this framework have been filled in by vast quantities of skeletal waste produced by the pounding of the waves and the depredations of boring organisms.
European exploration of the reef began in 1770, when the British explorer Capt. James Cook ran his ship aground on it. The work of charting channels and passages through the maze of reefs, begun by Cook, continued during the 19th century. The Great Barrier Reef Expedition of 1928–29 contributed important knowledge about coral physiology and the ecology of coral reefs. A modern laboratory on Heron Island continues scientific investigations, and several studies have been undertaken in other areas.
The reef has risen on the shallow shelf fringing the Australian continent, in warm waters that have enabled the corals to flourish (they cannot exist where average temperatures fall below 70 °F [21 °C]). Borings have established that reefs were growing on the continental shelf as early as the Miocene Epoch (23.0 million to 5.3 million years ago). Subsidence of the continental shelf has proceeded, with some reversals, since the early Miocene.
Britannica Quiz
Wonders of the World Quiz
The water environment of the Great Barrier Reef is formed by the surface water layer of the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The reef waters show little seasonal variation: surface-water temperature is high, ranging from 70 to 100 °F (21 to 38 °C). The waters are generally crystal-clear, with submarine features clearly visible at depths of 100 feet (30 metres).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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