A giant pumice stone floating in the Pacific could help heal Australia's Great Barrier Reef

"raft" the size of Manhattan is drifting towards Australia, bringing along with it new marine life that could help with the recovery of the Great Barrier Reef's corals, half of which have been killed in recent years as a result of climate change.

ROAM crew Michael and Larissa Hoult told CNN that they had been at sea for 10 days before coming into contact with the gray floating matter one evening. "It was a bit of a mystery, we didn't know how deep it was, if we were sailing over a volcano that was active at that moment. It looked almost like there was more coming up, bubbling up from underneath," said Larissa.

In 2012, research by Queensland University of Technology Associate Professor Scott Bryan and others following a similar underwater volcanic event found that pumice rafts are one way that the ocean can redistribute diverse sea life.Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Friday, Bryan said,"[The raft] is a natural mechanism for species to colonize, restock and grow in a new environment," adding that it's just"one way that nature can help promote regeneration.

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