The world's largest coral reef system, lying off the northeast coast of Australia in the Coral Sea and composed of thousands of individual reefs and hundreds of islands built up over thousands of years by living coral. It is large enough to be visible from space and supports one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems on Earth, though rising sea temperatures have caused repeated mass coral bleaching events in recent decades.
Facts
Area (sq km) Connections
Associated With
Source Australia (Wikipedia)
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Shaped By
Source Great Barrier Reef (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationThe Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth (NOAA Ocean Service)
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth.
- On Continent: Australia
View the Source 2. Great Barrier Reef (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationInfobox coordinates
16.4°S 145.8°E / -16.4; 145.8
Shaped By: Coastal Processes, Geology and geography section
The land that formed the substrate of the current Great Barrier Reef was a coastal plain formed from the eroded sediments of the Great Dividing Range
View the Source Wikidata: The Great Barrier Reef
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Australia (Wikipedia)
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