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August 25, 2019 10:37 pm

New 60-Mile Pumice Raft Could Help Restore Australia's Great Barrier Reef

"A huge raft of pumice created by an underwater volcano is floating toward Australia, and it could help the Great Barrier Reef recover from bleaching," reports Weather.com: The pumice raft is about 60 square miles -- almost as big as Washington D.C. Scientists say it was formed earlier this month by an underwater volcano near Tonga, some 2,000 miles east of Brisbane, Australia, in the South Pacific Ocean. As lava spewed from the volcano, it cooled into pumice stone, which is full of holes and can easily float, according to NASA. As this island of stone drifts toward Australia, it becomes home to countless marine creatures, Queensland University of Technology geologist Scott Bryan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "There's probably billions to trillions of pieces of pumice all floating together and each piece of pumice is a vehicle for some marine organism," Bryan said. "When it gets here, it'll be covered in a whole range of organisms of algae and barnacles and corals and crabs and snails and worms." He said the millions of individual corals have the potential of finding new homes along Australia's coastline. The pumice raft "is a natural mechanism for species to colonize, restock and grow in a new environment," he said. "It's just one way that nature can help promote regeneration." "Based on past pumice raft events we have studied over the last 20 years, it's going to bring new healthy corals and other reef dwellers to the Great Barrier Reef," Bryan told The Guardian... Bryan said pieces of pumice should turn up along Australia's coastline in seven to 12 months.

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