Twelve Apostles may have to change its name to 17 Apostles after five new stacks were discovered. According to experts, the five underwater sea stacks were found near Port Campbell, a coastal town in Victoria, Australia.
Five new stacks or Apostles have been discovered near the world-famous 12 Apostles in the Port Campbell, a famous and touristic coastal town in Victoria, Australia.
Many are wondering, will the 12 Apostles be changed to 17 Apostles? This week, experts announced that they discovered five underwater sea stacks or drowned apostles as they were doing a sonar mapping of the reef, which supports commercial fisheries.
The discovery was made by Ph.D. student Rhiannon Bezore, Associate Professor David Kennedy, from the University of Melbourne’s School of Geography, and Deakin University’s Dr. Daniel Ierodiaconou in March 2015 and was published in the Journal of Coastal Research.
According to the geomorphologists, who have taken part in the search, the “submerged limestone stacks” are the most amazing things they have seen anywhere in the world. The five underwater stacks are about 60,000 years old, are much older than the famous 12 Apostles – which are about 6 to 7 thousand years old. The paper revealed:
“The five columns, around six kilometres offshore from the 12 Apostles, have an average height of almost five meters and are much wider compared with the visible stacks which average 45m. Divers have already examined the top of the drowned stacks – which are 50m below sea level – and collected rocks for analysis.”
Bezore claimed:
“We happened to see these features that looked remarakably like the current 12 apostles. The fact that we found these sea stacks so old and under the water is pretty unique, these are the first of their type that have been found. They are 50 meters deep and there’s deep reef and abundance of life.”
Asked if the name will be changed to 17 Apostles, Bezore disappointed many tourists by saying:
“Tourists can’t see them from the viewing platforms so it might not catch on, but we are hoping the ‘drowned apostles’ stick. At the very least it might draw attention to the current 12 apostles.”
According to geomorphologist Kennedy, the Apostles were likely preserved because the sea rose so quickly after the last ice age. He stated:
“It probably ran straight across the top of these things without managing to erode them away and knock them over.”
Experts hope to explore the stacks with underwater cameras soon.
