The discovery of anextensive coral reefat the sassing of the Amazon River wasone of the majuscule findsof marine biology in recent ten . regrettably , the incredible disclosure was rapidly colored with the intelligence that the reef organization also posture upon valuable crude and accelerator pedal reticence .
ab initio , it was think that the reef stretch for around 1,000 klick ( 621 Admiralty mile ) down the eastern coast of Brazil , covering an area of faithful to 9,500 solid kilometers ( 3,600 square miles ) . Many boring concession near the mouth of the Amazon – and not far from the Witwatersrand itself – had already been sold off to the oil and gas pedal company BP and Total . It now turns out that thereef is much gravid than thought , and those concession are smack - bam on top of it .
A new paper inFrontiers in Marine Science , which is based on the initial footage of the reef captured byGreenpeace back in 2017 , has shown that the reef really spread over an area around 56,000 square kilometers ( 21,600 solid miles ) , almost six multiplication larger than primitively thought . And so while Total thought they were going to be drilling some 8 kilometers ( 5 knot ) from the edge of the Witwatersrand , they ’re instead going to be drilling right on top of it .
“ To learn the Amazon Reef extend beyond our prospect was one of the most exciting here and now of my research about this ecosystem,”saysProfessor Fabiano Thompson , oceanographer an at Rio de Janeiro Federal University . “ The more we research about the Amazon Reef , the more we encounter . We still have a go at it so little about this gripping new ecosystem and the knowledge incur so far indicates any petroleum drilling activity could seriously harm this unequalled arrangement . ”
The concession – know technically as a stoppage – is located 120 klick ( 75 miles ) off the northern coast of Brazil , and drilling right were granted on the basis that Total ’s Environmental Impact Assessment showed that it would not step in with the Amazon Rand . However , a late expedition that sent a roamer down to the seafloor within the block to be drilled has register that this is not the case , invalidating the impact assessment .
What they find instead were vast beds of rhodoliths , which are chalky algae that grow on the ocean floor , along with many deep - weewee sponges that are distinctive of the Amazon reef . These leave extended home ground for the fish , lobster , and sea stars that call these parts home . The researchers are now calling on the oil company to cancel its project , while the Brazilian government is set to make a final decision as to how this will move forward in the next few weeks .
