Location of Elizabeth Reef east of New South Wales
1934 map of Elizabeth Reef
Elizabeth Reef, located at 29°57′25″S159°4′32″E / 29.95694°S 159.07556°E / -29.95694; 159.07556, is a coral reef in the Coral Sea. The reef is separated by a deep oceanic pass, some 47 km wide, from nearby Middleton Reef, both of which are part of the underwater plateau known as the Lord Howe Rise. It is around 150 km from Lord Howe Island and 600 km from the New South Wales coast of Australia. The Environment, Sport and Territories Legislation Amendment Act 1997 included Elizabeth Reef in Australia's Coral Sea Islands Territory.[1]
It is the southernmost coral atoll in the world and one of the southernmost platform reefs in the world. It measures 10.5 km by 6.1 km. Despite the relatively high latitude, a wide variety of flora and fauna exists on the reef and in the surrounding waters due to their location where tropical and temperate ocean currents converge.
At low tide most of the reef flat is exposed; at high tide, both a cay and a sand spit are visible. Elizabeth Island, with a diameter of about 50 m, is one metre above sea level. Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs form the Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Park Reserve managed by the Government of Australia under the Natural Heritage Trust.[2]
Elizabeth Reef image from NASA Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project
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Prescott, Victor (1998). "The Uncertainties of Middleton and Elizabeth Reefs" (PDF). Maritime Studies. 1998 (100): 8–14. doi:10.1080/07266472.1998.10878528.
^Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Park Reserve Archived 2010-06-03 at the Wayback Machine
200miles ElizabethReefElizabethReef, located at 29°57′25″S 159°4′32″E / 29.95694°S 159.07556°E / -29.95694; 159.07556, is a coral reef in the Coral...
Australia ElizabethReef, a coral reef in the Tasman Sea Elizabeth, Arkansas Elizabeth, Colorado Elizabeth, Georgia Elizabeth, Illinois Elizabeth, Indiana...
and extended in 1997 to include ElizabethReef and Middleton Reef nearly 800 km further south. The two latter reefs are much closer to Lord Howe Island...
Middleton Reef Middleton Reef is a coral reef in the Coral Sea. It is separated by a deep oceanic pass some 47 km wide from nearby ElizabethReef, forming...
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate...
Islands. The southernmost atolls in the world are ElizabethReef at 29°57′ S, and nearby Middleton Reef at 29°27′ S, in the Tasman Sea, both of which are...
Caledonia, thence through the East point of Middleton Reef to the Eastern extreme of ElizabethReef (29°55′S 159°02′E / 29.917°S 159.033°E / -29.917;...
Mill Reef (23 February 1968 – 2 February 1986) was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a three-year career from 1970...
159.07654 Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Park Reserve is a former marine protected area consisting of waters around Elizabeth and Middleton...
North Keeling Island West Island Coral Sea Islands Cato Island ElizabethReef Middleton Reef Willis Island Heard Island and McDonald Islands Norfolk Island...
at ElizabethReef in the Coral Sea Islands, Australia An early alternative name for Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands) Or may refer to the Elizabeth Islands...
McDonald Islands Macquarie Island Zealandia Cato ReefElizabethReef Lord Howe Island Group Middleton Reef New Caledonia (also a part of Melanesia) New Zealand...
in 1997 to include ElizabethReef and Middleton Reef nearly 800 km further south, already in the Tasman Sea. The two latter reefs are much closer to Lord...
Australian coast eastward as far as a line joining the east extremities of ElizabethReef and South East Rock (31°47′S 159°18′E / 31.783°S 159.300°E / -31...
Caledonia, thence through the East point of Middleton Reef to the Eastern extreme of ElizabethReef (29°55′S 159°02′E / 29.917°S 159.033°E / -29.917;...
Argo and Kelso seamounts, Capel and Gifford guyots, Middleton and Elizabethreefs, Lord Howe Island and Ball's Pyramid. The Lord Howe and Tasmantid chains...
Orbital Reef is an under development low Earth orbit (LEO) space station being designed by Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Corporation's Sierra Space for...
Capital Territory to become its own territory. 7 July 1997 ElizabethReef and Middleton Reef were transferred from New South Wales to the Coral Sea Islands...
the southernmost atoll in the world at 24°41' S latitude. However, ElizabethReef in the Tasman Sea is at 29°57 S latitude, so the assertion on behalf...
approaches for coral reef resources, and her dissertation was entitled Fish, Fishing, Diving and the Management of Coral Reefs. For her research, Johnson...
Offshore it occurs at Norfolk Island, ElizabethReef and Middleton Reef in the Tasman Sea and Ashmore Reef and Kenn Reef in the Coral Sea. The twospined angelfish...
and the northern Great Barrier Reef to Moreton Bay in Queensland, it is also found at Middleton Reef and ElizabethReef in the Coral Sea and Lord Howe...
Reef, ElizabethReef and Lord Howe Island. The sailfin tang is benthopelagic and is found at depths down to 45 m (148 ft) on lagoon and seaward reefs...
The Robbins Reef Light Station is a sparkplug lighthouse located off Constable Hook in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, along the west...
Bellona Reef, 164 km south-southeast of Chesterfield, is geologically separated from the Chesterfield archipelago but commonly included. The reef complex...
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