scientists find huge ancient landslide
Friday 7 March 2025
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

On Great Barrier Reef

Scientists find huge ancient landslide

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice Scientists find huge ancient landslide

Australia's Great Barrier Reef
Sydney - Arab Today

A massive underwater landslide that could have triggered a towering tsunami some 300,000 years ago has been discovered in the depths of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, scientists said Wednesday.

The ancient landslide, likely caused by a strong earthquake that could have generated a tsunami wave 27 metres (90 feet) high, was discovered unexpectedly by researchers conducting three-dimensional mapping of the seafloor around the world's biggest reef.

Scientists had already located eight undersea hills "in the middle of nowhere" and found the crater while piecing together the contours of the nearby territory, said Robin Beaman of James Cook University, one of the co-authors of a study published in the Marine Geology journal.

"There's this huge chunk taken out of the continental slope... about 20 kilometres long has collapsed and about eight kilometres deep, so an indent on that sort of scale," he told AFP.

The landslide, which was discovered some 75 kilometres (45 miles) off the Queensland state coast, was 32 cubic kilometres or "about 30 times the size of Uluru".

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a giant red monolith that rises 348 metres above the Australian desert.

Scientists estimated the age of the landslide by sampling cold-water corals on one of the hills, also called knolls, at a depth of 1.17 kilometres. The oldest fossil corals were about 302,000 years.

While such a large undersea landslide could have triggered a major tsunami, Beaman said the reef would have acted as a breakwater to reduce its impact.

Tsunamis generated by such landslides also caused "very localised" impact, with waves dropping off quickly, he added.

"The Barrier Reef itself acts like a porous breakwater. It's very effective in dampening ocean swells," Beaman said.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia's best known natural wonders and stretches more than 2,300 kilometres along the northeastern coast.

But while much of the seafloor has been mapped in 3D, the reef's vast size means that its deeper parts have barely been explored.

Scientists next hope to get a better understanding of the biology of the reef in these deep locations.

The coral community that was sampled included living and fossil cold-water coral species, gorgonian sea whips, bamboo corals, molluscs and stalked barnacles.

They were thriving in pitch-black conditions in water temperatures of about four degrees Celsius (39.2 Fahrenheit).

"The biology we still know very little about... we have some understanding of what's living on these knolls, but what about the other parts of the deep Great Barrier Reef?" Beaman said.

"What's living in submarine canyons and the like? For me, that's the next exciting chapter."

Source: AFP

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

scientists find huge ancient landslide scientists find huge ancient landslide

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

scientists find huge ancient landslide scientists find huge ancient landslide

 



GMT 10:31 2014 Tuesday ,23 December

Mirages of failure: Lebanon cannot wait

GMT 08:21 2017 Thursday ,13 July

Saudi Shura Council passes Added Value Tax law

GMT 21:34 2012 Wednesday ,01 February

Emma Watson: My fashion sense is too boring

GMT 21:14 2013 Sunday ,15 September

Saudi Arabia to compete for first time at Oscars

GMT 13:09 2017 Wednesday ,17 May

Murex Do’r witnessed many shortcomings

GMT 10:38 2017 Wednesday ,27 September

Stevie Wonder kneels as he leads anti-poverty concert

GMT 08:20 2018 Wednesday ,17 January

US withholds $65 mn from UN agency

GMT 10:55 2017 Monday ,30 January

Somaia al Khashab denies bad health rumors

GMT 12:20 2017 Wednesday ,27 September

Egyptian MP appreciates Sisi’s efforts

GMT 12:06 2017 Monday ,11 September

Facebook fined 1.2 mln euros by Spanish data watchdog

GMT 08:50 2017 Monday ,27 February

Jerusalem art show turns 'home' inside out

GMT 00:42 2017 Monday ,23 January

Ahmed Eid's Yabani Asli targets children, family

GMT 07:58 2017 Thursday ,02 November

Al Raysoni: Islam not support extremism

GMT 10:09 2017 Tuesday ,10 October

Zayash confident of winning coming match

GMT 23:56 2017 Friday ,19 May

US jails 2 for hate crime against Sikh man

GMT 14:56 2012 Wednesday ,14 November

Weather forecast in Qatar for tonight

GMT 05:27 2015 Saturday ,04 April

Wraith 'Inspired by Film' to arrive in Bahrain

GMT 04:24 2012 Wednesday ,21 March

Ayoon Wa Azan (Their Response was in Self-Defense)

GMT 09:40 2016 Saturday ,17 December

Samba gets new rhythms 100 years after first recording
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
 
 Emirates Voice Facebook,emirates voice facebook  Emirates Voice Twitter,emirates voice twitter Emirates Voice Rss,emirates voice rss  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©

emiratesvoieen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen
emiratesvoice emiratesvoice emiratesvoice
emiratesvoice
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice