SYDNEY // A massive underwater landslide that could have triggered a 27-metre-high tsunami some 300,000 years ago has been discovered in the depths of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, scientists said on Wednesday.
The ancient landslide, likely caused by a strong earthquake, was discovered unexpectedly by researchers conducting three-dimensional mapping of the sea floor around the world’s biggest reef.
Scientists had already located eight undersea hills “in the middle of nowhere” and found the crater while piecing together the contours of the nearby territory, said Robin Beaman of James Cook University, one of the co-authors of a study published in the Marine Geology journal.
“There’s this huge chunk taken out of the continental slope ... about 20 kilometres long has collapsed and about eight kilometres deep, so an indent on that sort of scale.”
The landslide, which was discovered some 75 kilometres off the Queensland state coast, was 32 cubic kilometres or “about 30 times the size of Uluru”.
Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a giant red monolith that rises 348 metres above the Australian desert.
Scientists estimated the age of the landslide by sampling cold-water corals on one of the hills, also called knolls, at a depth of 1.17 kilometres. The oldest fossil corals were about 302,000 years.
While such a large undersea landslide could have triggered a major tsunami, Mr Beaman said the reef would have acted as a breakwater to reduce its impact.
Tsunamis generated by such landslides also caused “very localised” impact, with waves dropping off quickly, he added.
“The Barrier Reef itself acts like a porous breakwater. It’s very effective in dampening ocean swells,” Beaman said.
The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia’s best known natural wonders and stretches more than 2,300 kilometres along the northeastern coast.
But while much of the sea floor has been mapped in 3D, the reef’s vast size means that its deeper parts have barely been explored.
Scientists next hope to get a better understanding of the biology of the reef in these deep locations.
* Agence France-Presse
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
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Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Scorecard
Scotland 220
K Coetzer 95, J Siddique 3-49, R Mustafa 3-35
UAE 224-3 in 43,5 overs
C Suri 67, B Hameed 63 not out
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THE BIO
Occupation: Specialised chief medical laboratory technologist
Age: 78
Favourite destination: Always Al Ain “Dar Al Zain”
Hobbies: his work - “ the thing which I am most passionate for and which occupied all my time in the morning and evening from 1963 to 2019”
Other hobbies: football
Favorite football club: Al Ain Sports Club
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
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What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5