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A pinch of pumice is starting to arrive in Australia after a long journey across the South West Pacific. The visiting volcanic raft also brought a housewarming gift to its new location in the form of millions of reef building organizations that could benefit the Great Barrier Reef.
The huge field of pumice, made up of trillions of tiny pumice stones separated, was vomited in August 2019 by an underwater volcano discovered off the northwest coast of Vava’u Island in Tonga. Pumice is formed when liquid lava erupts from a volcano in the sea and cools quickly. It obtains its porous structure from the gases that boiled through the foamy magma as it cools.
In its greatest extent, the floating pumice stone field was estimated at 167 square kilometers (64 square miles), roughly double the size of Manhattan.
Scientists knew it was to Australia, but more and more pieces of pumice are arriving on the beaches of south-eastern Queensland. Associate Professor Scott Bryan of the Queensland University of Technology has been monitoring beaches for pumice since April 2020. He hopes pumice will replenish some of Australia’s coral reefs by bringing healthy new corals and others. biological materials that hitchhiked along the way.
“Each piece of pumice stone is a home and a vehicle for an organization, and that’s just great,” Professor Bryan said in a statement. “The sheer number of individuals and this diversity of species transported thousands of kilometers in just a few months is truly phenomenal.”
“Overall, we have identified over 100 different species attached to pumice – an immense diversity of plants and animals,” he added.
Some scientists, however, have argued that the raft’s original story became sensational after the media proclaimed it “would save the Great Barrier Reef”. Others are also more skeptical of the vital properties of the pumice raft. California Academy of Sciences coral biologist Dr Rebecca Albright said American scientist in 2019: “By the time the pumice stone arrives in Australia, there is a diverse community of things living there. But will corals be major players? Absolutely not.
“It could actually abrade the reef,” she added.
While Professor Bryan also believes pumice won’t be enough to save the ailing Great Barrier Reef, he hopes it will at least give Australia’s shores new life.
“It’s almost like an injection of vitamins for the Great Barrier Reef,” he says. But, “pumice rafts alone will not directly help mitigate the effects of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.”
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