Great Barrier Reef essays

Great Barrier Reef essays The Great Barrier Reef is the worlds biggest coral reefs in the world. Its so huge, at 2,000 km (1,200 miles) long, that it can be seen from the Moon! Its taken 18 million years for the Great Barrier Reef to get to the size it is today. The Reef consists of 2,900 (geocities.com) separate reefs it also has an area of around 344,000 km ². North Queensland is known for its natural beauty. The Great Barrier Reef is considered a great vacation spot. Its great for diving and snorkelling. There are many resorts all over small islands. It is quite easy to become engulfed in the whole reef experience. It's colourful, exotic, and strange sea life make the Great Barrier Reef very unique and special. The Great Barrier Reef is made up of accumulated skeletal remains of zillions of marine polyps from the Coelenterata family. New polyps continue to grow on the lime-based structure and are continually added to the reef. However, coral needs a number of preconditions to ensure healthy growth. The water temperature must not drop below 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit, sunlight must be able to reach the coral, and the water must be clean and salty. Although sadly, this gorgeous reef is slowly being destroyed by both animal and human faults. Such faults are carelessness like walking on the coral without a care, dropping anchors on the coral, dragging diving gear over them, breaking them and taking them home as souvenirs and knocking and grounding boats on them. But these are just a few examples of how humans treat the reef. Also things like pollution such as sewerage, oil spills, fertilisers and pesticides damage the reef, it spreads though the water then kills off living creatures. Prawn trawling destroys up to ten times more creatures than are actually harvested. Endangered marine turtles are still dying in nets, huge areas of seafloor are laid waste by destructive trawl gear. Millions of tonnes of sediment and chemicals pour into the ree...