500m Tall Reef discovered

Giant underwater 500m coral reef ‘skyscraper,’ taller than the Empire State Building, discovered in the Great Barrier Reef.

Standing apart on the seafloor, is the first detached coral reef to be discovered in the last 120 years.

Join RV Falkor as we conduct ROV SuBastian’s 401st dive on a newly discovered 500 m tall reef.
This is the ninth dive of the ‘Northern Depths of the Great Barrier Reef’ expedition.
Today we are exploring this 500 m tall ‘detached’ reef, one of seven other detached reefs offshore of Cape York Peninsula, which lie upon a ~500 m deep ledge extending out from below the Great Barrier Reef shelf. The dive will cross the broader base, then climb the steep flanks of the reef to the summit at about 50 m depth – an underwater mountain climb to find out what is living on this newly discovered reef.

source Schmidt Ocean