Great Barrier Reef - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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It is difficult to work out the age of the Great Barrier Reef. This is because of the way a reef can grow and shrink as the sea level changes. A coral reef can grow in diameter, that is how wide they are, from 1 to 2 cm per year. They can also grow upwards from 1 to 15 cm per year. Coral can not grow if the water is too deep (150 metres or more) because it needs light from the sun. They cannot grow out of the water (above sea level).[5]
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n not grow if the water is too deep (150 metres or more) because it needs light from the sun. They cannot grow out of the water (above sea leve
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The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Australian Institute of Marine Science say the current, living reef started growing about 20,000 years ago. It started to grow on an older reef.[4] This makes the beginning of the reef during the Last Glacial Maximum. At that time,
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Six species of sea turtles come to the reef to breed. These are the green sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle, hawksbill turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, flatback turtle, and the olive ridley. There are two different groups of green sea turtles on the Great Barrier Reef. One group lives in the northern part of the reef and the other in the south.[15] Fifteen species of seagrass attract the dugongs and turtles.[13] They also provide a food and shelter for fish.[16] The most common kinds of seagrasses are Halophila and Halodule.[17]
