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  • Essay / The Great Barrier Reef - 902

    One evening in June 1770, the British explorer Captain James Cook heard the irritable crunch of wood against stone. Little did he know, he had just discovered the Great Barrier Reef! Off the coast of Queensland, Australia in the Coral Sea, the GBR is the largest reef system in the world, it can even be seen from space! This represents approximately 35 million hectares, which is equivalent to approximately 70 million football fields. The GBR is home to extremely diverse marine life, from molluscs and fish to sea and shorebirds. Attracting around 2 million people a year, the GBR generates between A$4 billion and A$5 billion a year. A coral reef forms underwater when thousands of small animals, called polyps, establish a colony. How did this series of reefs become the Great Barrier Reef? “One evening in June 1770, Captain James Cook heard the crunch of wood against stone” (ngm.nationalgeographic.com). He later realized that he had just discovered the Great Barrier Reef. Cook and his team were exploring the waters off what is now Queensland, Australia, when the HMS Endeavor became trapped in the coral maze. Not too far below the surface, rough, spiky coral towers tore through the ship's structure and held the ship tight (ngm.nationalgeographic.com). As the girders broke and the sea poured in, the crew arrived on deck "with faces that sufficiently expressed the horrors of our situation," Cook later wrote in his journal. The captain and crew barely reached the mouth of a river where they rehabilitated the ship. A few decades after Cook's encounter with the reef, English cartographer Matthew Flinders, who also had an accident or two while "threading the needle" among the reefs, gave the massive body his name, inspired by its size. The Great Barrie... ... middle of paper ......n." Great Barrier Reef facts and information. Np, nd Web. January 28, 2014. "Great Barrier Reef facts for kids - Pictures and information." Great Barrier Reef facts for kids - Pictures and information. Np, nd Web. "Seven natural wonders: the Great Barrier Reef." Seven natural wonders: the Great Barrier Reef. Np , nd Web. , JEN A reef in time: the Great Barrier Reef from beginning to end Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2008. Print. ." Facts about the Great Barrier Reef.Np, nd Web January 28.. 2014. .