The giant pumice raft created by an underwater volcanic eruption last August in Tonga has begun arriving on the Australian eastern seaboard, delivering millions of reef-building organisms that researchers say could be a “vitamin boost” for the Great Barrier Reef.
- Pumice raft from 2019 Tonga volcanic eruption has begun arriving on Australia’s coast
- The pumice has brought millions of reef-building organisms to benefit the Great Barrier Reef
- International research team used underwater robots to investigate underwater eruption site
Associate Professor Scott Bryan, who has been studying the impact of pumice rafts for nearly 20 years, was part of an international team that earlier this year used underwater robots with cameras and sampling gear to collect material from the volcano near Tonga that produced the raft that at one stage was twice the size of Manhattan.
The unnamed volcano, which is known only as Volcano F or
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