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The Great Barrier Reef Has Escaped Death at Least 5 Times in The Past 30,000 Years

29 MAY 2018


But despite a staggering five near-death experiences for the reef, it kept bouncing back - at least in the past.



"Here we document the evolution of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), the world's largest reef system, to major, abrupt environmental changes over the past 30 thousand years based on comprehensive sedimentological, biological and geochronological records from fossil reef cores," the researchers wrote.

What they found was that the reef experienced two widespread death events due to exposure to air - at 30,000 and 22,000 years ago. In those times, the reef moved seaward to survive.




"Our study shows the reef has been able to bounce back from past death events during the last glaciation and deglaciation," said geoscientist Jody Webster from the University of Sydney.  



Despite the few near-death experiences the reef has had until now, it doesn't mean that we're off the hook for the current bleaching die-offs that are happening at an alarming scale.

The reef "probably has not faced changes in sea surface temperature and acidification at such a rate," Webster explained to AFP.


This is mostly because of the timeframe of the current changes we're seeing and have contributed to. In past centuries, sea surface temperature would rise a few degrees over 10,000 years.


So, buckle up, because to save our incredible treasures like the Great Barrier Reef, we're still going to have to cut our emissions.

And if you don't know where to start with helping our planet, this list might give you a hand.

The research has been published in Nature Geosciences.