A giant pumice stone could help heal the Great Barrier Reef of Australia

According to the NASA Earth Observatory, on August 9, a few days after being sighted by sailors, the huge floating sheet of volcanic rock was spotted by an underwater volcano near the island of Tonga, a Pacific Island.

A few days later, Australian sailors heading for Vanatu on the ROAM catamaran reported encountering volcanic rocks "composed of pumice stones ranging from marble to the size of a basket ball, so that the only thing I could say about it was that I could not see it. water is not visible ".

ROAM crews, Michael and Larissa Hoult, told CNN that they were at sea for 10 days before coming into contact with floating gray matter one night.

"It was strange enough, actually," Larissa said. "The ocean as a whole was dull, we could not see the reflection of the moon on the water."

"The rocks surrounded us a bit, so we could not see our trail or our wake, we could see the edge where the water was returning to normal – shining water – at night," Michael said. they could see the rock from all directions.

"It was a bit of a mystery, we did not know how deep, if we were sailing over an active volcano at that time, it was almost said that there were more going up, bubbled from below, "said Larissa.

The pair of pumice stones, which are filled with holes and cavities, floats like an iceberg, with about 90% water and 10% water, explained the couple.

Scientists believe that this pumice stone should drift with the current on the Australian coast over the next 7 to 10 months, where scientists think it could have a positive effect on the microorganisms that are there. find.

Indeed, floating stones can serve as a nest for marine organisms.

When the pumice stone moves towards the Great Barrier Reef, the marine life attached to it will also travel, potentially bringing new colonies of barnacles, corals and more.

In 2012, research conducted by Scott Bryan, an associate professor at the Queensland University of Technology, following a similar submarine volcanic event, revealed that pumice rafts were the only thing that had happened. one of the means by which the ocean could redistribute marine life.

The eruption this month could have similar positive effects, said Bryan.

Addressing the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Friday, Bryan said: "[The raft] is a natural mechanism that allows species to colonize, rebuild and grow in a new environment, "adding that this is only one of the ways in which nature can help promote regeneration." Bryan also said that the natural phenomenon occurs every five years.

He told ABC that when the pumice raft arrives on the Australian coast in the next seven to twelve months, it will be "covered with a variety of algae and barnacle organisms, corals, crabs, snails and worms ".

"It's a way for young healthy corals to be quickly introduced into the Great Barrier Reef," he said.

In 2016 and 2017, heat waves at sea caused by climate change resulted in mass bleaching, which killed about half of the coral reef corals, as well as many others around the world.