4,000-Foot Reef Structure Discovered In Australian Desert

People tend to think of the sea when they hear the word coral. Interestingly, a team of researchers has found a 4,000-foot reef-like landform in a desert in Australia.

Nullarbor Plain in southern Australia is an "extremely" flat surface that's approximately 200,000 square kilometers in size, the researchers wrote in their study, to be published in Earth Processes And Landforms. In fact, tourists driving through the area are told to expect the "longest, straightest, flattest road in Australia."

But it seems that the Nullarbor Plain isn't quite as flat as it appears. In their study, the researchers used high-resolution satellite imagery to have a closer look at the plain and discovered a rather strange, circular-shaped landform with an outer diameter that's between 1,200  and 1,300 meters or about 3,900 to 4,200 feet.

Photos of the structure are available here.

"The landform is distinct from other known landforms observed on the plain, and cannot be readily explained as a result of fluvial, aeolian, karst, tectonic or extra-terrestrial impact processes," the researchers wrote.

However, it does share similar features and "microbial textures" seen in the famous Great Barrier Reef, study author Milo Barham of Curtin University said in the university news release. This would make sense as Nullarbor Plain was once underwater and only emerged from the ocean some 14 million years ago.

"Through high-resolution satellite imagery and fieldwork we have identified the clear remnant of an original sea-bed structure preserved for millions of years, which is the first of this kind of landform discovered on the Nullarbor Plain," Barham explained.

It is an incredible find, as the feature appeared to have been hiding in plain sight all these years. At the same time, it reveals that Nullarbor Plain isn't actually as "flat and featureless" as it seems, as per the university news release. Further, it also shows the importance of the area for remaining rather "unchanged," thus preserving such incredible features for millions of years.

According to Barham, who called the area a "unique geological canvas," not only did Nullarbor Plain preserve landforms such as rivers that are "long vanished," isolated cave shafts in the area also preserved the remains of the enigmatic Tasmanian tigers and the marsupial lion.

"These features, in conjunction with the millions of years old landscape feature we have now identified, effectively make the Nullarbor Plain a land that time forgot and allow a fascinating deeper understanding of Earth's history," Barham explained.