Scientists have discovered remnants of an ancient undersea landslide in Australia, which is 30 times more massive than Uluru. A team of researchers from Queensland made this discovery recently while working on the Great Barrier Reef.

This massive landslide called the Gloria Knolls Slide is just one of several underwater landslides. However, the total volume of this particular slide amounts to 32 cubic kilometers of debris, making this the largest one to date.

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Robin Beaman of James Cook University and his team first discovered a series of large blocks found scattered on the seafloor when they were conducting surveys of the ocean floors from the coast of Innisfail back in 2007. Beaman says that there are apparently fossilized corals found covering these large blocks, suggesting that this landslide occurred more than 300,000 years ago.

The team also suggests that a gigantic tsunami measuring 25 meters high may have caused this large landslide. This new discovery also provides clues about how often undersea landslides occur. Beaman adds that there is a low risk of this happening to the coastline of Queensland since this is a very ancient feature.

The team was able to explore and examine the thriving marine life around Gloria Knolls Slide. Beaman said that these underwater debris blocks have coral stretching for 30 kilometers outward from the edges of the Great Barrier Reef, covering 1,200 meters of water.

Researchers describe this reef region as completely dark and cold, around four degrees Celsius where this became an ideal habitat for cold water corals that are now embedded within rocks and mud. Beaman says that they have obtained a sample from the area and it was a lot more marine life that they have ever expected.

The team is hoping to conduct further research on the the region connecting the Great Barrier Reef and the Gloria Knolls Slide to know more about deep marine life.