アマゾン珊瑚 - Living, Loving, Thinking, Again

John Vidal “Huge coral reef discovered at Amazon river mouth” http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/22/huge-coral-reef-discovered-at-amazon-river-mouth

アマゾンといっても本屋ではない。世界最大の河川たるアマゾン川 *1の河口附近に面積9300平方キロメートルに亙る巨大な珊瑚礁が発見された*2。伯剌西爾から国境を越えて、仏蘭西領ギアナに及んでいる。これは吃驚。青い海にあるという普通に抱かれている珊瑚礁のイメージとは違って、アマゾン河口域というのは「世界で最も濁った」水域なのだ。
発見されたばかりのこの珊瑚礁、早くも危機に直面している；

But the reef, no sooner found, is said to be in grave danger. According to the paper, the Brazilian government has sold 80 blocks for oil exploration and drilling at the mouth of the Amazon and 20 of these are already producing oil – some, it is thought, right on top of the reef.
“These [exploration] blocks will soon be producing oil in close proximity to the reefs, but the environmental baseline compiled by the companies and the Brazilian government is ... largely based on sparse museum specimens. Such large-scale industrial activities present a major environmental challenge,” said the study’s authors.

See also

Robinson Meyer “Scientists Have Discovered a 600-Mile Coral Reef” http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/04/scientists-discover-a-new-coral-reef-at-the-amazons-mouth/479259/

*2:See Rodrigo L. Moura, Gilberto M. Amado-Filho, Fernando C. Moraes, Poliana S. Brasileiro, Paulo S. Salomon, Michel M. Mahiques, Alex C. Bastos, Marcelo G. Almeida, Jomar M. Silva Jr, Beatriz F. Araujo, Frederico P. Brito, Thiago P. Rangel, Braulio C. V. Oliveira, Ricardo G. Bahia, Rodolfo P. Paranhos, Rodolfo J. S. Dias, Eduardo Siegle, Alberto G. Figueiredo Jr, Renato C. Pereira, Camille V. Leal, Eduardo Hajdu, Nils E. Asp, Gustavo B. Gregoracci, Sigrid Neumann-Leitão, Patricia L. Yager, Ronaldo B. Francini-Filho, Adriana Fróes, Mariana Campeão, Bruno S. Silva, Ana P. B. Moreira, Louisi Oliveira, Ana C. Soares, Lais Araujo, Nara L. Oliveira, João B. Teixeira, Rogerio A. B. Valle, Cristiane C. Thompson, Carlos E. Rezende and Fabiano L. Thompson “An extensive reef system at the Amazon River mouth” http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/4/e1501252