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Geological Formations

Wreck Reefs

Sedimentary and Stratigraphic Formations

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Wreck Reefs are a chain of reefs and small cays in the southern Coral Sea Islands, about 450 kilometers east-northeast of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, and about 250 kilometers east of the Swain Reefs complex, extending roughly 25 kilometers from west to east. Islets on the reefs include Bird Islet, West Islet, and Porpoise Cay. The reefs take their name from the 1803 wrecking of HMS Porpoise and Cato, when explorer Matthew Flinders, travelling as a passenger aboard Porpoise with his collection of plants and papers, struck the then uncharted reefs eight days after leaving Port Jackson; the site is now protected as a historic wreck site.

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