Scientific Ocean Drilling

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a very dynamic system, meaning that the reefs’ shapes and inhabitants are different depending on when and where you look. This is true for a snorkeller visiting different reefs, but also at the scale of the entire GBR, and over geological times. By synthesising two decades of research, scientists have recently described the reasons for this, and what supports the growth of the GBR.

In a finding that challenges the history of America, a vast aquifer of freshwater has been discovered off the coast of New York. Hidden beneath the seabed, this deposit could supply water to a megacity like New York for about 800 years, according to the Expedition 501. The aquifer extends from New Jersey to Maine and is located under layers of sand covered by impermeable clays.

Scientists have uncovered new evidence explaining the source of energy powering the Lost City hydrothermal field, a unique underwater ecosystem in the Atlantic Ocean. By drilling more than a kilometre beneath the seabed, researchers discovered superheated water with a chemical composition closely matching the fluid emerging from the Lost City's towering white chimneys, suggesting the vents are fed by a hidden reservoir of hot, hydrogen-rich water deep below the ocean floor.

The Great Barrier Reef is often described as a victim of modern climate stress, but new research suggests its story is even more complex. Scientists say the world's largest coral reef system passed through five periods of formation, drowning, and renewed growth over roughly 30,000 years.

A new University of Delaware study published in Science Advances sheds new light on a long-standing theory about Earth's ancient climate transitions, revealing that a major shift in global ice age cycles was actually triggered by the Southern Hemisphere, not the Northern.

An international expedition including University of Sydney researchers pieced together the clearest picture yet of how the Great Barrier Reef responded to dramatic environmental change over the past 30,000 years. Multiple studies since the expedition more than 10 years ago traced the reef’s retreat, regrowth and repeated collapse from the last ice age to the dawn of the modern reef.