Ocean gross motor activities

Crab Walks

Often times you will find crabs on the beach. This is a great time to try different variations of the crab walk. Check out some of the ideas below!
The “crab roll” has you pushing a ball along as you walk across the beach.

How about some crab legs? Get yourself in the crab walk position and kick out those legs!

Try this fun ocean themed digital game.  These can be played on a computer, tablet or interactive whiteboard.  What makes these games even better is that you can print the games too and use them as ocean themed movement printables. They are a great addition to any wall, door, hall or anywhere you choose. They are great additions to obstacle courses or to incorporate as parts of other motor challenges.  

GET THE OCEAN THEMED DIGITAL GAME

This game can be played in a digital manner or you can print it and use ocean themed movement printables. 

Mermaids go perfectly with the ocean! You can meet and move like mermaids with this game. You can play it digitally or print and use the game as printables.

GET THE MERMAID THEMED MOVEMENT GAME

When you think of the ocean how about surfing?!? Pink Oatmeal has an awesome surfing themed gross motor game that works on one to one correspondence along with movement! This game can be played on your computer, tablet, screen cast onto a television or played on an interactive whiteboard. This is a great option for BOTH in-person and distance learning.

GET THE SURFBOARD COUNTING GROSS MOTOR GAME

Ocean Themed Fine Motor Activities

Ocean Fine Motor Activities – Eleven different easy, quick, and fun ocean themed fine motor activities can be found in the ocean themed fine motor activities pack.  This is a must to save you time and effort and leave you feeling good about your ocean themed fine motor activities.

The summer fine motor pack from Pink Oatmeal also gives you plenty of other options for an ocean or beach theme!

GET THE SUMMER FINE MOTOR ACTIVITIES PACK

There is even more! Check out the Beach Themed Gross Motor and Fine Motor Activity Ideas from Pink Oatmeal. This will give you even more and these two themes work great in combination. You can also look for several of our other summer themed motor skills ideas in the Fun Summer Motor Skill Themes Ideas from Pink Oatmeal.

Ocean Themed Resources

Pink Oatmeal has a huge selection of resources perfect for your ocean theme. These resources are created for you to save you time and effort. Feel confident your kids will love these ocean themed motor skills.

Click on the name link of the resource below to get a detailed version of that resource!

• Ocean Motor Pack
• Ocean Movement Pack
• Ocean Kids Yoga Cards
• Ocean Clip Art Yoga
• Ocean Fine Motor Activities
• Visual Discrimination Ocean Animal Game
• Surfboard Counting Gross Motor
• Mermaid Movement Game
• Ocean Movement Cards
• Sharks Pre-Writing Game
• Summer Fine Motor Activities
• Roll, Riddle, Write Ocean Game
• Ocean Gross Motor Game
• Ocean Yoga Pack Bundle

CHRONICLE OF THE TRANSITION, OR THE TRANSITION OF THE ELLINGS THROUGH THE ATLANTIC

December 17, 2008.

Doors to "Caribbean paradise" for nine aliens from Adventor Yachts, Captain Club and Neptune Marine Shipbuilding open.

At 16:00 on December 16, "Valentina", "Duke" and "Elling" modestly moored at the berths of the marina in the Dutch part of St. Maarten. To our surprise, the islanders, languishing from eternal bliss, did not pay much attention to our arrival. No orchestra, no guard of honor, no congratulations from the governor. Or maybe, against the background of rumors about Russian naval activity in the Caribbean, they mistook us for some kind of Russian landing party that arrived incognito? One way or another, Anton van den Bos will probably carry out explanatory work with the local administration and prove that he is not a hostage of Russian crews, after which the natives will understand that they underestimated the importance of our appearance - one of the main events of world yachting this year. nine0011 At an average cruising speed of 7. 1 knots, 2585 miles were covered with a record low fuel consumption - according to the first estimates, half as much as on the American trawler yachts Nordhavn-47, famous for their passages across the Atlantic with an average cruising speed of 6.2 knots. Today these are the best results for the non-stop ocean crossing of a group of motor yachts up to 15 m long. To everyone who followed the progress of the transatlantic voyage of ELLING yachts - a big hello and gratitude from the organizers and participants.

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December 16, 2008. Sixteenth (and hopefully last) day on the ocean.

At noon ship time we are still on the road, 80 miles from Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch part of Saint Martin. The island is already on the chartplotter display and on the air. Anton van den Bos enjoys the sounds of Dutch speech. The ocean is still trying to intrigue this our stubborn trio of moving floats. The wind, contrary to the favorable forecast, is kept within 10-13 m / s, the waves do not think to calm down. Air - 29hail, water 27 deg. Duke shares the latest news: "One boat wound up on a screw - the proximity of civilization. We are going on auxiliary motors. We decided not to carry out diving work due to heavy seas. Other minor "home" breakdowns have begun, but this is no longer scary. The next message will come soon from the shore."

From Anton: "The last few hours. Mikhail and I have been peering at the horizon, anticipating the appearance of signs of land. The wind and current are favorable. Now we are arriving around 17.00 GMT (13.00 ship time). The difference from the initial calculation is only 1 hour "It's nice to come at the appointed time. I think it's important to know how long the voyage will last - the eternal question for sailboats. In my youth I was fond of sailing - first on a dinghy, then on a Dehler 31 yacht. However, for crossing the Atlantic, I choose ELLING (or Boeing -747).At 1300 ELLING reported that there was a strong vibration and loss of speed. Everyone had to stop the main engines and start the auxiliary ones. Thus, the speed decreased to 5.5 knots, and the arrival time was pushed back to 1500. Not a big problem, since the coastal point management is open until 17.00. nine0003

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December 15, 2008. Fifteenth day at sea.

Last 250 miles. Weather reports directly from the island of Saint-Martin have become relevant. Air and water - 27 degrees each. Partly cloudy. The excitement calmed down to 2 - 2.4 m. Duke reports: "The ocean is spoiling again. A tailwind of 20 knots, chatting. About 400 liters of fuel should be enough. Expected arrival tomorrow night in Moscow if we go at 7 knots. The mood is cheerful" . nine0003

From Anton: "The last full day in the ocean. Yesterday a large ship passed on a collision course. Hearing our conversations in Russian, they immediately responded on channel 16. Mikhail learned that they were heading for Gibraltar. Two more canisters were returned from DUKEa, t .e. the original stock has been restored. "
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December 14, 2008. Fourteenth day at sea.

“Our penetration across the planet is especially noticeable in the distance...” (V. Vysotsky). nine0003

Duke transmits: "The ocean is flattening a little." As we approach Saint-Martin, which is just over 400 miles away, we find ourselves in calmer waters. For us, the swell in the range of 2.4 - 3.0 m and the wind of 10 m / s is almost calm. Air and water - 26 and 27 degrees, respectively. Speed ​​7.1 knots, heading 252. Two Russian fleets are visiting the Caribbean today - three ships of the Navy in Nicaragua and our trinity. True, we are still on the way.

Information received from Anton about the situation with fuel. It remains 660 liters, which is enough. 6 cans of 20 liters were returned from DUKE as they had excess fuel. nine0003

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December 13, 2008. Thirteenth day in the ocean.

We pass the southern margins of the Sargasso Sea. The cyclone went south. The wind, turning to the south-east, decreased to the usual 6 points. The swell keeps within 2.5 - 3.5 m. Behind 2000 miles, ahead of 600 more. Air and water - 26 and 27 degrees, respectively. Speed ​​7.1 knots, heading 252.

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December 12, 2008. Twelfth day in the ocean. nine0003

Today we have something to show for our predecessors in crossing the Atlantic on motor yachts up to 50 feet, the captains of the displacement trawler yachts Nordhavn. They crossed the ocean twice - in 2004 and 2007, following the route Florida - Bermuda - Azores - Gibraltar. Nordhavn's highest achievement was in a non-stop voyage of three Bermuda-Azores yacht Bluewater, model Nordhavn-47, June 2007, distance 1818 miles, average fuel consumption including generator 16 l / h, diesel Lugger-Deer 173 hp, average trip speed 6.2 knots, which corresponds to a flow rate of

at 2.6 liters per mile).

Accurate data, logbook extract, "Nordhavn Adventures". Well, what do we have? 1835 miles have already been covered, the average cruising speed is 6.95 knots, and fuel consumption is at the level of 1 - 1.2 liters per mile (!!!). What is the conclusion? That's right, a record is born. So, and the separation in terms of cruising range will continue to grow. Nordhavn boys - don't worry! By the way, remember that ELLING by American standards is also a lobster-type trawler yacht. But it is too early to indulge in euphoria: the storm regime is in full swing - we are passing a test according to the limiting parameters of category "A" - squalls with gusts of up to 8 points whip up wave heights of up to 5 m. The pressure "on our gates" is the most powerful for the entire flight. Crews already have all-weather hardening. nine0003

Duke reports: "The wave is constantly 3-4 m. A series of continuous thunderstorms and tropical rains accompanying the cyclone. There was a very strong thunderstorm at night, ELLING and came under lightning fire. Visual contact was lost every now and then behind the waves and the rain wall. Radar in these helpless conditions.

From Anton: “We didn’t sleep at all, it was light at night, like during the day - at least read a book. I slept a little, but Mikhail couldn’t - everything was shaking. In a thunderstorm, the wind turned to the south, and the waves began to hit the port side. Tolerable "But uncomfortable. The air temperature and the current are our allies. The speed increased to 7.2 knots, and in a day we covered 176 miles." There were concerns about the safety of electronics. Not so much even navigation as on the engine. One lightning strike can disable automation. But nothing serious happened. In the morning the radio connection with DUKE was broken. Then it turned out that they were trying to rearrange the plate of Inmarsat and turned off the power for a while. Let them warn you next time. nine0003

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December 11, 2008. Eleventh day at sea. N23.10 W47.55

DUKE reports: “Changing the last thousand miles. There will be enough fuel if there are no weather disasters. The mood is fighting, the state of health is satisfactory. Ocean cuffs below the back continue. Tailwind 7 points. The storm swept across the Atlantic west of longitude 35. For two days we found ourselves in the arms of a cold front, but at a water temperature of 26 degrees. Wind waves are superimposed on the swell, forming ridges up to 3.6 - 4.5 m high. Nevertheless, 171 miles were covered in a day, bringing the number of miles left astern to 1665. If this goes on, and we want to believe it, we will sail another 5.5 days. The course is the same - 252. Cloudy. By the way, the Tropic of Cancer, or the North, is crossed. From now on we are in the tropical zone. nine0003

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December 10, 2008. Tenth day in the ocean.

Anton van den Bos is delighted to meet the Dutch vessel Americaborg, which is en route from Mallorca to the British Virgin Islands. On board are several yachts delivered to the Caribbean Sea. Anton took his breath away, for the first time in the last ten days, for the first time talking in Dutch with a compatriot captain about the immediate plans of our flotilla. Another milestone was the distance traveled of 1,500 miles, the maximum possible with a standard fuel supply (1,500 liters). This means that among the 150 already sailing ELLING yachts, our three boats have become leaders in the range of continuous, without calling at ports, navigation. In other words, a “home” record was set within the brand. Further navigation is carried out solely due to "subcutaneous fat" - a supply of fuel in excess of the design value. The ocean seems to have caught on: is it spoiling us too much? And here again, as at the beginning of the transition, a tailwind of 6-7 points, forcing waves 2.5-3 m high. But the speed does not drop under these conditions - GPS shows 7.1 knots relative to the ground. The sky is covered with clouds, but approaching the goal gives strength - 40% of the route remains to be covered. ____________________________________ nine0003

December 09, 2008. Ninth day in the ocean. N24.44 W42.02

"We've already played the first half."

Today we passed the point of equidistance from the starting and ending points of our route. This is the absolute "point of no return". Now just go ahead. The screws "wound" 1328 miles. Fuel consumption is under control. For the remaining distance to St. Maarten (1250 miles), VALENTINA has a 16% excess fuel supply. On ELLING the situation is even better. Here DUKE with its overspending causes some concern. The main problem is that when rolling, it is difficult to transfer cans of fuel from side to side. But there are no hopeless situations. Heading 254 with a tailwind of 8 m/s. The temperature of air and water is equalized: 25 degrees. The swell of 1.5 m is not appeased, but the crews are already used to it. Despite the speed drop, the speed of 7 knots is maintained - the mass of the boats has decreased by the amount of fuel consumed, and the fair current should also contribute. nine0003

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December 8, 2008. Eighth day in the ocean.

Weather reports are already coming from the American continent. After a short break, which we took advantage of to transfer part of the fuel to the DUKE, work days again, the return of a swell 1.5 m high (fortunately not higher), a little cloudiness. But the wind of 8 m/s is finally fair, without any tricks, and we can hope for the support of the current. A few words about fuel for DUKE as well. The fact is that it has a 570hp engine, while the rest of the yachts have 425hp. At lower speeds, the hourly fuel consumption of a more powerful engine turned out to be higher, so the fuel supply for it had to be increased. Naturally, we took advantage of a period of relative calm to approach DUKE, w. The incident is over. The daily distance requirement of three degrees of longitude (about 170 miles) at a speed of 7 knots has been met, and we are now 1,160 miles from La Palma. There is still 55% of the route ahead. Tomorrow we will cross our equator. Heading 255 - leaning south. nine0003

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December 7, 2008. Seventh day in the ocean.

Portrait of participants (continued).

In the words of Alexander Rubinov, "we are gradually getting used to the route." It is worth adding to this: we get used to our boats, and they to us. The characters of both boats and crews appear. Corresponding to its "company" name, "ELLING" is the most imposing and respectable: the team is the most numerous, and the reserves are the richest, and Captain Sergey Afonin is weathered by many trips on sailboats. This boat is from the lucky breed. And today a large dorado fish was caught, and the smells from the galley are charming - Lilia Egorova is preparing another culinary masterpiece. nine0003

There are elements of rivalry with DUKE, where Rubinov is the captain. Not everything is so rosy here.

A day before sailing from the island of La Palma, he seriously injured his hand, and one can imagine how difficult it is for him to protect it in a five-point swell while driving a yacht.

There were other minor troubles. So the ducal title does not at all guarantee an easy life. But the fish are also caught.

The most modest, "without noise and cod", behaves the mini-crew of the yacht VALENTINA. Anton van den Bos and Mikhail Gorbunov, exchanging rare English phrases, calmly and measuredly carry out the flagship business. According to the biblical covenant, the seventh day is a day of rest. And the rest is well-deserved - the first thousand miles have been covered. The ocean showed maximum loyalty and gave out a water temperature of 25 degrees, a wave no more than a meter, a fair breeze, performances of local amateur performances from dolphins, flying fish and bird truckers. And then - again on the road. nine0003

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December 6, 2008. Sixth day in the ocean.

Portrait of participants.

For lack of a photo, we give a verbal description. Yacht ELLING (captain Sergey Afonin, crew Sergey, Lilia and Alexander Egorov). Yacht DUKE (captain Alexander Rubinov, crew Anatoly and Natalya Semenov). Yacht VALENTINA (captain Anton Van den Bos, crew Mikhail Gorbunov). Only 9 people on three motor yachts that have already covered 844 miles in five days. The ocean got a little tired in trying to annoy us - the wind decreased to 8 m / s, the swell height decreased to 2 m. Heading 260. Speed ​​7.1 knots - a fair current may have started to work. Water 24 deg. Cloudy, and fog is promised in the weather reports. nine0011 __________________________________________

December 5, 2008. Fifth day at sea.

The boundary has been reached where the cold Canary Current passes into the warm North Trade Wind Current. The water warms accordingly - 23 degrees. The trade winds are generally tailwinds when moving to the west. In the meantime, the wind at a speed of 10 m/s is blowing from the traverse of the port side. It seems that the 2-2.5 m high swell from the north intends to accompany us to the end. The moods on this occasion are very different - from "Everything is in order" to "The wave tortured me. " Anyway, 674 miles left behind. We go in economy mode, adhering to the fuel consumption limit of 0.85 liters per mile. Heading 260. Overcast. nine0003

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December 4, 2008. Fourth day at sea.

The ocean is changing tactics.

A 5-point wind (speed 10 m/s) is shifting to the southeast and begins to cover the 3-meter swell, which is stubbornly running from the north. It became cloudy again. It turned out that with such a cross attack of waves, fuel consumption increases to 1 liter per mile, and on a yacht with a more powerful engine, 570 hp. up to 1.2 liters per mile. Decided to slow down to 7 knots. For three full days at an average speed of 7.2 knots, 516 miles were covered - this is 20% of the entire route with a consumption of 15.5% of the total fuel supply. Air temperature 21 degrees, water 22 degrees. 1/3 of the deck fuel supply was loaded into the main fuel tanks (2 barrels out of 6 on each of the yachts) - this is a kind of self-bunkering. nine0003

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December 3, 2008. Third day in the ocean.

Who will master whom?

Wind UTC 9–12 m/s with an increase in the evening up to 10–13 m/s. Wind waves up to 2.7 m. Moderate swell with a period of 11–12 s runs from the starboard side. Air temperature 22 degrees, water 21 degrees. Clear sky, sunny. There are signs of improvement in the weather. But for now, the ongoing pitching deprives some of the crews of their appetite. Difficult conditions for the autopilot - you need to constantly be on duty at the helm. 350 miles covered in two days. Speed ​​7.4 knots. Fuel consumption of 0.86 liters per mile - below the planned value. This makes me happy. nine0003

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December 2, 2008. Second day in the ocean.

The ocean is examining.

Wind from SW up to 5–6 points. But the waves are up to 2.5 m high. The speed is 7.4 knots. A swell is coming from the north - greetings from the raging North Atlantic. Several showers during the day.

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December 1, 2009. First day in the ocean.

11 am ship time. Departure from the marina of La Palma. Number of crews - 9human. We lay down on the course 266. Strengthening of the constant northeast wind up to 6–7 points. Waves up to 3 m. Temperature 17 -19 degrees.

Coral reefs hold the secrets of the past and future of the oceans / Sudo Null IT News lobe corals] species Porites lobata grow in the lagoon of Huahine Island, French Polynesia. Reef cores containing coral samples from various locations have revealed information about the state of the ocean thousands of years ago

As dusk falls over the gleaming surface of the Solomon Sea in the Pacific Ocean, Guillaume Iwankow dons his diving gear and descends from the research schooner Tara into a motorboat. His goal is to bring back the core, an arm-length sample taken from a coral colony that records decades of its life.

After 10 minutes the boat leaves Tara, the motor slows down. It is so shallow here that the fish living on the reef flicker just a few centimeters from the surface. Ivankov, a scientific diver with the Tara Expeditions Foundation, is looking for a spot on coral where the largest and most ancient example of Porites lobata, round, yellow-green corals that often grow so large they look more like the contents of a Godzilla skull, can be found. Coral colonies consist of soft-bodied animals, coral polyps, which (with the help of symbiont algae) secrete the mineral calcium carbonate in thin layers. Over time, the annual layers accumulate one above the other and turn into a solid mass that makes up the skeleton of the coral. nine0003

Guillaume Ivankov

Finding the perfect Porites, Ivankov presses his seven-centimeter-diameter core barrel into the surface of the coral. The drill plunges into the skeleton with a low hum, and clouds of coral dust are thrown into the surrounding water. Having penetrated all layers of coral, Ivankov tilts the drill back and forth, tearing off the base of the carved sample, which is about 40 cm in length. He repeats this process in the same hole two more times, and then swims back and places the samples in the boat - about 120 cm long in total. Only on the surface of the Porites formation are living polyps, so after drilling, the coral should continue to grow in the shallows, without much damage or disturbance. nine0003

Such marine scientific expeditions collect all kinds of biological samples, from ocean water and reef fish to microbes from corals. But coral cores are different from the rest. These are organic time capsules containing records of local pollution, geology, temperature and health of the reef stretching back hundreds of thousands of years. Researchers continue to develop unexpected methods to extract this information from coral skeletons. Climatologists, geochemists and paleontologists who want to immerse themselves in the history of the ocean are increasingly advised to study cores. “I call them natural reef history books,” said Janice Lowe, a climatologist and coral core expert at the Australian Maritime Institute. "They have a lot of stories to tell." nine0003

Immerse yourself in ocean history

Coral core mining, like a detective investigation, has become a reliable way to enrich theories about past events with details and evidence - or even simply to prove that these events took place. It's easy to forget that until the 1970s, no one was sure that corals even had growth rings. It was then that a team of geophysicists from the University of Hawaii visited Enewetok Atoll in the South Pacific.

Eniwetok was an unpretentious island with an unusual history: the US tested its nuclear weapons there in 1940s and 50s. Researchers in Hawaii wondered if nearby coral skeletons showed evidence of this radioactivity. If the layers of corals contained radioactive elements with a known half-life, it would be possible to calculate almost exactly at what point which of the rings appeared. “They took a layer of a massive colony, put it on photosensitive paper in a dark room for a month, and they saw sets of radioactive strips,” Lowe said. The distances between the stripes on the paper suggested that there was more data to be found in the hidden structure of the coral, so more testing was needed. “They contacted a doctor working nearby and asked: Can we X-ray our coral layer?” nine0003

A diver brings a sample of coral to the surface

After placing the layer of corals on the X-ray machine, easily distinguishable annual rings, alternating between light and dark, were visible - this was a reflection of the density of calcium carbonate that made up the skeleton of the coral. The dating of the radioactive elements of the skeleton found that every year a double set of rings appeared on the coral: a larger and more porous one, and a narrower and denser one. In a 1972 paper published in the journal Science, researchers called the cores "coral clocks," alluding to their usefulness as natural clocks. Since then, other scientists have reported that corals lay thicker annual rings during wet, temperate seasons, and thinner rings during dry seasons and more extreme weather. nine0003

Corals grow 0.3-10 cm per year, but on average a 100 cm long core can be considered to contain a record of 100 years of coral history. Often this is the last 100 years - but not always. Hardened corals may contain sequences of annual rings dating back as far as the last interglacial, over 100,000 years ago. To estimate the relative density of annual rings, which reflects the climatic conditions at the time of their appearance, X-rays are still used. But oceanographers are constantly discovering new useful properties of coral cores in the process. nine0003

One of the richest histories contained in core data is the yearly record of trace elements found in ocean water. Coral polyps filter ocean water to extract materials from it to build skeletons, so each layer contains a tiny amount of what was in the water at the time that layer was created. And while coral growth rings “due to the complex internal shape of the skeleton, they are not as crisp and neat as tree growth rings,” says Gregory Webb, a paleontologist at the University of Queensland, “they really record the chemistry of the water in which they grow.” nine0003

Studying the composition of coral cores allows scientists to plot different substances found in the ocean in different years. This can provide information on planetary processes that seem to have nothing to do with coral growth. Oceanographers at a Chinese laboratory have calculated the strength of the East Asian winter monsoon over the past 150 years by measuring the levels of rare earth elements such as lanthanum and cerium in each layer of Porites coral cores. These rare earth elements come from the dust swirls that form during winter storms, so the abundance percentage is a reliable indicator of the intensity of a storm. nine0003

Close-up photo of Porites lobata showing tiny groups of protruding tentacles of coral polyps.

In the same way, coral core tests reveal historical evidence of human pollution in the ocean, far more detailed than any other. Lowe and colleagues are sampling the Great Barrier Reef and testing the layers for levels of toxic metals such as lead and cadmium, which are often emitted by industrial plants. Builders could build a port, dump sediment on a coral reef, and claim that their intervention had no effect on the ocean—but, as Lowe pointed out, “coral cores are unbiased observers of environmental change.” nine0003

Coral cores also provide one of the few reliable records of ocean temperatures in the years before human records began. When the water is colder, corals use more strontium by adding it to the calcium carbonate used to build their skeletons. By calculating the percentage of calcium to strontium in each layer of the core, you can determine what the ocean temperature was when this layer appeared.

Using this technology on coral cores from tropical Pacific waters near the Galapagos Islands, geologist Gloria Jimenez of the University of Arizona and colleagues recently created a detailed description of water temperature changes since 1940 to 2010. Prior to this, records of water temperatures were not regular, and they said that the warming of the ocean water was limited due to cold deep currents. But data from Jimenez coral cores tells a different story: the waters in the region have been warming since the 1970s, and there was a surge in the 80s when the warm El Niño currents passed by. This gradual warming trend means that reefs near the Galapagos may be more endangered than previously thought.

Beneath the modern coral formations that Jimenez studies lie a treasure trove of other fossilized coral data. Depending on the state of preservation, cores from such corals could allow researchers to extend temperature records up to 100,000 years into the past. Webb has a dedicated research vessel, the D Hill, which has a drilling platform capable of extracting cores from ancient layers under the Great Barrier Reef. nine0003

After Webb and his team extract coral fossil cores, they can determine their age using uranium-thorium dating. The mass spectrometer shows how much of the residual uranium in the core layers has decayed to form thorium, and the ratio of the two elements is used to calculate the approximate age of each layer. Like Jimenez, Webb uses the ratio of strontium to calcium to calculate the temperature of the ocean at the time of each streak, and he uses his fossil cores to track the chemical content of prehistoric waters. “We were able to extract cores from the entire Holocene,” Webb said, referring to the current geologic epoch that began 12,000 years ago. "we can compare climate and water quality around the same reef, in the same place, but separated by 100,000 years." nine0003

Fossil data also provide new evidence for ancient geological processes. During a recent voyage to Heron Reef, a section of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia, she and her team ran into a problem. Their rig can burrow up to 30 meters into the bottom, and they once calculated that they would soon reach layers that appeared during the last interglacial of the Pleistocene, more than 100,000 years ago. But they never got to him. “We thought that at about 15 meters we would enter the Pleistocene,” Webb recalls. - We made bets on how deep we would find it - someone bet on 12, someone on 14. And then suddenly we were at 22 meters, and we never got it. We just bit into the hollow, and no one expected this. nine0003

Coral reefs are becoming the centers of a living marine ecosystem, so their future in the face of ocean acidification is of serious concern The Great Barrier Reef was above water. Wind, rain and running water washed away the exposed limestone and formed a deep crevice surrounded by high, steep and uneven hills. When the sea level rose again, currents and waves filled the submerged valley with sediment particles, and this place became the basis for new coral reefs. This discovery led scientists to conclude that the shape of modern reefs is not usually determined by the shape of previous reefs or the geological structures on which they grow, as previously thought. The accumulation of sedimentary rocks can obscure the contours of old structures and provide a flat surface on which new reefs can grow. And the highest points of the reefs can be located at such a height that the sea level will allow, which means that they also become flat at the top. nine0003

The movement of sea water has always played a major role in the formation of these unique ecosystems - further confirmation of this is given in a new paper published in Nature Geoscience. Jody Webster of the University of Sydney, Brian Lowheed of the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute in France, and colleagues have recovered many different ancient coral cores from under the Great Barrier Reef. Analysis of skeletal matter and sediment in cores has shown that sea level changes over the past 30,000 years have killed parts of the reef five times—sometimes when the reefs were exposed to air, sometimes when sediments in the rising water blocked the light reaching the reef. But in each case, the reef grew back as polyps from other reefs appeared on it, and its living coral formations eventually moved to where there were the best conditions for water and lighting. nine0003

The unique structure of each coral layer in the core also gives clues to other problems the coral faced during formation, whether it was decades ago or thousands. For example, when the ocean becomes more acidic due to the dissolution of atmospheric carbon dioxide, corals reverse their growth habits, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution wrote last year in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.