The Great Barrier Reef

Dobrovolschi Silviu
Clasa XI “B”, I.P.L.T “Mihail Kogălniceanu”
 The Great Barrier Reef stands globally as the largest coral reef systems in which
more than 2,900 reefs and 900 islands span over 2,300km across approximately 344,400
km2. This beautiful place is located on the Great Barrier Reef, the famous body of water in
the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast in Australia. It is equally viewed from space and is
referred to as the largest structure made by living organisms. Situated there by numerous
polyps of beautiful corals, it boasts great diversity and, till 1981, when it became a UNESCO
World Heritage, it also received the title as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World
which CNN had named it in 1997.
The entire Great Barrier Reef marine park is a conserved area protecting human
impacts such as fishing and tourism. Although pollution runoff, coral bleaching that is climate
related, dredging, and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish do still persist, the reefs are
getting better with time. There are research reports which signify significant loss of coral
cover since 1980’s and bleaching events which accelerate the loss of cover.
The myriad of cultural and spiritual fabric together with Aboriginal Australian and
Torres Strait Islander communities has been around to draw tourists to the region
contributing immensely to the economy. The UW (Underwater Street View) taken by Google
as well as ongoing research into it proves its world importance.
While coral bleaching events point out the ecological vulnerability, the newly
published reports contain data on the resilience thus, the recovery of mainly the Acropora
species. Though there occur intermittent dampening and climate change flung, the problem
still the center of attention therefore the conservation activities should be ceaseless.
The Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people treated the Great Barrier
Reef as a living home for thousands of years, and it has recently been declared as a place of
utmost spiritual and cultural importance.
In 1770, when the Great Barrier Reef came under European possession, James
Cook, aboard the HMS Endeavour became the pioneer who first observed it while charting
the Eastern coast of Australia. Cook's ship came across obstacles, beaching his vessel on a
shoal (a sand bank) to the west of Cooktown, where it took seventy weeks to effect repairs.
The reef itself has been given the famous name of “The Great Barrier Reef” by
Matthew Flinders who made a thorough survey of the area in 1802. Flinders used various
expressions to indicate the reef system in his narrative: “great reef ” and “barrier reef”. His
rhetoric was mostly shaped by the scale of the reef preventing the ships from moving hardly
in the region.
The East Australian Cordillera division is made up of the most famous of the Great
Barrier Reef from the submerged part of the Northern Hemisphere hills between Bramble
Cay and the coastline of Papua New Guinea in the north to the passage to the Lady Elliot
and Fraser Islands which is the smallest in the south. Lady Elliot Island is the anchor which
settles the southern extent of the Great Barrier Reef as estimated at around 1,915 kilometers
southeast of Bramble Cay. It comprises of the Murray Islands that are smaller constituents of
the bigger group.
Geology, underpinned by plate tectonics, has had a determining influence on reef
emergence and its evolution. The Australian continent's geographical shift, which translates
to a 7-centimeter per annum northward movement since the beginning of the Cenozoic era,
together with subsequent crustal uplift, ultimately resulted in the reshaping of the regional
drain patterns. During this period there happened the volcanic activity all around, which
made the lava to produce islands. Through millions of years, together with the change of
environments in the coastal waters of Queensland into the tropical atmosphere, there were
fluctuating growth of coral reefs with change of sea levels and sedimentary patterns.
Reef building on depths from 150 meters usually is driven by sunlight limitation and is
influenced by factors like pollution and flooding. The present bedrock of the reef belongs to a
plain which had formed from the transported sediments of the Great Dividing Range that
once was at the place. Tracing its origin back several hundreds of thousand years. Science
showed that the bi then-grown reef structures start proliferating roughly around 20,000 BC
and lasted until the glacier retracted.
The corals kept on expanding on the submerged coastal hills as the sea level rose
steadily, and reefs of this age basis now become the islands and reefs in the present day.
The flat sea reefs, which are about 20,679 square kilometers size, carry mostly their
structures above the limestone platforms from the past reef expansion cycles. A modern-day
Kimberley has reefs as old as the Great Barrier Reef showing the Kimberley's primal scene.
The area of the Great Barrier Reef within the World Heritage is not just one item, but
encompasses 70 different bioregions, of which the ribbon reefs and the deltaic reefs found
only in its northern end, being the most remarkable ones. While an edifice laying project
begun in the north was dis- covered to be of immense size in 2020. The structure and nature
of reefs in all parts of the ecosystem are different: from island fringing reefs in the south to
planar reefs in the area adjacent to the Cape York Peninsula. Granular aberrations such as
wonky holes, being some reef ecosystem effects, are usually eutrophied through nutrient-
rich up welling.

The seductive lure of the Great Barrier Reef extends like an extent of wonderment to
the endless influx of events happening in place and needed to be checked now! Coral reefs
stretch along for nearly 1.430 miles of shoreline with 2.9k reefs and 900 small islands. It is
the luxury of seeing the magnificent formations of corals below the crystal clear waters that
gives me the omnipresent wonder of the beauty of nature; whereas witnessing the diverse
display of aquatic creatures on demand and of exceptional beauty, some sort of proof that
nature is overflowing with immeasurable depth of wonder literally. You can either relax on
the lonely tropical island with calm snorkeling close to superb coral reservations or dive into
the depths of the sea with sea giants like a huge turtle. However, the multi-sensory
experience that you will live will remain in your heart forever because of the exceptionality of
the Great Barrier Reef.
Apart from its nature beauty in great diversity of marine animals, the Great Barrier
Reef also has an emotional meaning and cultural value for many people around the world.
This is a term of spiritual, on watercultural. Dark heavenly skies have meant a lot to the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for tens of thousands of years considering that
cultures were founded around the night sky, constellations and stories. Incredibly, Saint
Sophia is not only a holly place today, but also world’s wide spiritual and cultural
phenomenon that annually welcomes fans of centuries-old majesty and high principles. The
architecture and the many weavings of the native cultures that genuinely talk of the balance
of the soil and water, a pattern which stretch back no less than for thousands of years
provides indeed a precious opportunity to know about this ecosystem which is not found
anywhere else.
 The ecological resilience and conservation of the Great Barrier Reef still makes the
case for it being a national and global treasure worth preserving. Alongside environmental
challenges like load of pollution runoff, coral bleaching and the outbreak of crown-of-thorns
starfishes, but the living community on the coral reef persists and adapt itself, thus proving
how robust nature is. Your trip to the Great Barrier Reef isn’t only about the observing its
splendid natural beauty, but you are in fact a part of the efforts of conservation that aims to
keep this valuable ecosystem available to future generations. Either by implementing eco-
tourism practices, joining hands with the researchers, raising public awareness or by positive
impact directly towards conservation marine, every visitor possess such potential to save the
beautiful region.