An enormous field of pumice , spewed out by a vent near Tonga , is manoeuver for Australia . Prevailing winds and currents should play it to the Great Barrier Reef in seven to eight month . On add-in will be many micro-organism and scientists imagine they could bring attention to the humans ’s greatest reef system , presently intemperately - pressed by mellow temperature and sea acidification .
landsman probably filled the first narration of float stones as far as the eye could see with accounts of mermaid and the Kraken , but underwater volcanoes sometimes spew forth pumice Stone so hollow they can float on water . finally , the Stone replete with water and cesspit , but this can take many years because the holes can be so small that open tensionprevents waterdisplacing flatulency pin inside .
On August 15 , venturer onboard the Sail Surf ROAM catamaran voyage to Fijireportedthey were passing through waters dotted with pumice , range from the size of wits to basketballs . big concentrations of pumice are do it as rafts , even though they are made up of millions of stones , rather than a single sheet of paper as the name might intimate .
The raft has been attributed to an underwater vent eruption near Tonga in early August . The same vent take fire in 2001 .
ForDr Scott Bryanof the Queensland University of Technology , this was exciting intelligence . Bryan has made a specialness of study these events , which happen around every five long time in the South Pacific . This eruption does n’t look lay out to reach the size of one in 2012 , which has been grass thelargest rich - ocean eruptionin history . The current size estimate for this raft is 150 straight kilometers ( 60 straightforward Roman mile or 20,000 football fields ) , about a third of 2012 .
However , Bryan thinks the timing of this event could make it particularly ecologically pregnant . “ At the instant the pumice stone will be marginal and devoid but over the next few weeks it ’s going to take up getting organisms attach to it , ” Bryan say in astatement . “ Then they ’re going to grow and diversify , to at long last lap up here in Australia . ”
Bryan expects the raft to pass coral - plentiful islands like New Caledonia and Vanuatu during peak spawning time of year . Some of the coral larvae will make a base in the holes in the pumice and be carry to the Great Barrier Reef where they will settle when their transit sinks . For a Witwatersrand facing its most severe crisis in 10,000 years , the arrival of new genetics , adapted to different atmospheric condition , could be just the boost it needs . On the other paw , shipping will want to take care lest the large stones damage the Isaac Hull , and small ones be sucked into propellers .
For Bryan , the eructation offers a chance to compare the piece of music of the pumice stone with material from 2001 , whichhe analyzedin unprecedented detail . Bryan ask this will reveal whether this is left - over magma from the previous eruption or a new batch , offering brainwave into the cause of submerged eruptions .
