Australia; New Zealand; QLD; SA; WA; ACT
Australian researchers have discovered that K'gari (Fraser Island) and the nearby Cooloola Sand Mass in southeastern Queensland formed 1.2 and 0.7 million years ago and their formation allowed the development of the southern and central Great Barrier Reef. Scientists had always been puzzled as to why the Great Barrier Reef only formed around half a million years ago when Australia had the condition appropriate for reef growth for much, much longer. It turns out the answer might be K'gari. They say the development of K'gari dramatically reduced sediment supply to the continental shelf north of the island and this facilitated widespread coral reef formation in the southern and central Great Barrier Reef.
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