Great Barrier Reef: Massive underwater coral 'skyscraper' is taller than the Empire State Building - Daily Mail

A skyscraper-esque spire of detached coral discovered in Australia's Great Barrier Reef stands taller than the Empire State Building at 1,640 feet (500 metres) high.

Researchers from the US and Australia mapped out the blade-like coral mount — the first to be discovered in some 120 years — off the coast of Cape York on October 20.

A skyscraper-esque spire of detached coral discovered in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, pictured, stands taller than the Empire State Building at 1,640 feet (500 metres) high.

At its base, the blade-like reef is some 0.9 miles (1.5 kilometres) in width — and reaches up to just 131 feet below the sea surface.

Five days after making their discovered, the team dispatched SuBastian — the Schmidt Ocean Institute's underwater robot — on a dive to explore the new reef.

Researchers from the US and Australia mapped out the blade-like coral mount — the first to be discovered in some 120 years — off the coast of Cape York on October 20.

The revelation of the new coral reef adds to a year of underwater discoveries by Schmidt Ocean Institute.

In August, five previously undescribed species of black coral and sponges were uncovered by the team — who also recorded Australia's first observation of rare scorpionfish in the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef Marine Parks.

At its base, the blade-like reef is some 0.9 miles (1.5 kilometres) in width — and reaches up to just 131 feet below the sea surface.

'To find a new half-a-kilometre tall reef in the offshore Cape York area of the well-recognised Great Barrier Reef shows how mysterious the world is just beyond our coastline,' said Schmidt Ocean Institute executive director Jyotika Virmani?

'[A] powerful combination of mapping data and underwater imagery will be used to understand this new reef and its role within the incredible Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.'.

'This unexpected discovery affirms that we continue to find unknown structures and new species in our ocean,' said Schmidt Ocean Institute co-founder Wendy Schmidt.

'This unexpected discovery affirms that we continue to find unknown structures and new species in our ocean,' said Schmidt Ocean Institute co-founder Wendy Schmidt

This bleaching recently killed up to 80 per cent of corals in some areas of the Great Barrier Reef

An aerial view of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The corals of the Great Barrier Reef have undergone two successive bleaching events, in 2016 and earlier this year, raising experts' concerns about the capacity for reefs to survive under global-warming