Camper Trailer Australia — December 2017

IN Aworld where we are bombarded daily with

environmental concerns and predictions of potential

disaster over the impacts of global climate change,

it might seem unusual to ponder that such change

has, in the past, been of unique benefit to mankind

today, and to this nation.

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest structure

built by living organisms on the planet, covering

344,000sq km and stretching over 2600km

from the Torres Strait in the north to the chann

between Lady Elliott and Fraser Islands in the

south. It is not a single reef, but a complex one

1050 islands and over 2900 individual reefs wit

vening channels, and its presence has a lot

with global climate change.

It can be seen from space and is rated as o

the Seven Natural Wonders of the World a

a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most of it is

tween 15 and 150km from shore and can

to 65km wide and much of it is protected

e Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

The reef is a significant contributor to the

cially in the Cairn

nd Whitsunday

gions, and is

timated to be

orth more than $3

lion per year.

E HISTORY

arting about 2.6

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David Cook takes a look at the threats facing the jewel in

Australia's natural wonder crown.

AMARINE

UNDER THREAT

ter

the

QuQu

ebated, but it has resulted

in periods of extreme

cooling and the growth of

extensive glacial ice sheets

on most of the world’s

continents, mostly in the

Northern Hemisphere. Each

of these glacial growths took

up much of the world’s water,

causing sea levels to fall and

exposing coastal near shore

plains. At its peak around

20,000 years ago, sea level

was 120m lower than today, and it has been as

much as six metres above the current ocean levels.

At the same time, through the process of plate

tectonics, Australia has been moving northwards

into more tropical climates at a rate of about seven

centimetres per year. With the formation of the

Coral Sea Basin off the Queensland coast between

58 and 48 million years ago, the first coral reefs

began to form in the region. However these were

small and nowhere near as extensive as we see

today, as the water lacked the clarity it has now due

to the proximity of land and sediment run-off.

About 600,000 years ago, as sea levels were

again rising, the main platform of the reef as we

know it today began to form, with the shoreline

retreating to distance the streams and their

sediments from the growing reefs and the building

of structures on and around a number of small

islands off the coast.

The current reef complexes began to form

about 20,000 years ago, on top of the previously

developed platforms, and rose with the rising sea

levels until they reached the current levels around

6000 years ago

The Great Barrier Reef, like all coral reefs, is a

biodiversity hot spot, with more than 9000 species

of animals calling it home, not counting micro-

organisms. Thirty species of whales, dolphins and

porpoises have been identified around the reef, as

well as six of the world’s seven species of sea turtles

which, along with dugongs, are attracted by the

6000 square kilometres of sea grass beds around

the reef.

Away from the water 215 species of birds inhabit

the reefs or islands. Saltwater crocodiles make

dd

Words david cook

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There is incredible life to be found

under the water's surface

The Reef incorporates
1,050 islands

The tropical environment attracts

many boat owners

Pics Jack murphy and david cook

It's important to be careful not to

disrupt the Reef's inhabitants