Australia: Great Barrier Reef faces multiple threatsBy Graham
Land Jan 06, 2013 11:24PM UTC A few months ago researchers told
us that the Great Barrier Reef had lost over half its coral over
the past 27 years due to a combination of tropical cyclones, the
crown-of-thorns starfish and coral bleaching. Now scientists
have discovered that a large section of the sea floor next to
the Great Barrier Reef is on the verge of collapsing. Dubbed the
Noggin Block, this one cubic kilometer slab is the remnant of an
ancient underwater landslide and is perched precariously on the
edge of the continental shelf. It is not known when the slab
will collapse, but scientists say that it will – eventually. The
consequences could be disastrous. If it were to break away
catastrophically, that is break away really quickly, what that
would do is it would create a surface wave above it. It would
actually cause a tsunami. That tsunami would travel across the
Great Barrier Reef, it’s about 70 kilometres offshore, and it
would impact the