Enormous pumice “raft” arrives on Australia’s east coast - from Great Barrier Reef to northern New South Wales

7 News, 21 August 2020:

An enormous pumice “raft” has arrived on Australia’s east coast, bringing with it new marine life that could help with the recovery of the Great Barrier Reef.

The massive floating sheet of volcanic rock was first spotted by Australian sailors on August 9, 2019, days after an underwater volcano is believed to have erupted near the Pacific island of Tonga.

Australian sailors Michael Hoult and Larissa Brill said at the time they encountered volcanic rocks “made up of pumice stones from marble to basketball size such that water was not visible”.

The raft is more than 150 square kilometres in surface area - almost three times the size of Sydney Harbour or about 8000 football fields.

It is now crashing into Australia’s east coast between Townsville and northern New South Wales.

Pumice is a lightweight, bubbly rock, formed when frothy magma cools suddenly.

The rock can float on the surface of the water and it often houses tiny reef-building animals.

Associate Professor Scott Bryan, collecting pumice on North Stradbroke Island. Credit: Anthony Weate/QUT

“Each piece of pumice is a rafting vehicle,” Queensland University of Technology geologist Scott Bryan said in a statement.

“This is about a boost of new recruits, of new corals and other reef-building organisms, that happens every five years or so.

“It’s almost like a vitamin shot for the Great Barrier Reef.”.....