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Article: Volcano kills coral. (gases from Filipino Mt. Pinatubo reflected enough sunlight away to cause a drop in temperature causing deep sea nutrients to surface and feed algae which smothered some coral reef animals)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science World
- Article date:
- February 9, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Scholastic, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Scientists in Israel recently discovered a coral reef nearly smothered to death. The culprit? Mount Pinatubo, a volcano in the Philippines, 9,700 kilometers (6,000 mi) away.
"We were amazed that a volcanic eruption thousands of kilometers away could hurt the coral reef right outside our office," says Amazia Genin, an Israeli marine biologist.
When Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991, it spewed gases high into the atmosphere, explains Tyler Volk, an earth scientist at New York University. "Like tiny mirrors, droplets of the gas reflected sunlight and kept some of the rays from reaching Earth," he says. As a result, temperatures in the Red Sea--home to many ...