Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve

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Modern stromatolites in Hamelin Pool, Western Australia.

Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve is located in the World Heritage Site of Western Australia adacent to the Hamelin Pool Station pastoral lease and within 20 km of the Overlander Roadhouse on the North West Coastal Highway.

It covers 1,270 square kilometres. It is one of only a few places in the world where living marine stromatolites can be found. Other locations for stromatolites include in deep water in the Caribbean, and at Lake Thetis near Cervantes and Lake Clifton, both in Western Australia.

The stromatolites in Hamelin Pool were discovered by scientists in 1956 and were the first living examples of structures built by cyanobacteria. They are similar to 3,500 million year old stromatolite fossils. Stromatolites are an example of the earliest record of life on earth.

Hamelin Pool has approximately double the salinity of the ocean, providing an ideal environment for the Stromatolites to grow, and inhibiting other marine life. The cyanobacteria live in communities on the sea bed at densities of 3000 million individuals per square metre. They are the simplest life forms to use photosynthesis to provide food and oxygen. They provided the early Earth with much of its oxygen atmosphere billions of years before plants appeared. This process causes sediment, which is trapped by the sticky bacteria, to become cemented with calcium carbonate, thereby building the stromatolite structures. Some structures are pillars up to 1.5 metres high and have taken thousands of years to grow. Areas of the bacterial colony where stromatolites have not formed are called mats.

At Hamelin Pool there is an interpretive board walk for tourists to venture out and examine the stromatolite structures.

The historic Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station nearby contains a Museum and Caravan Park with refreshments and souvenirs.

[edit] Further reading

(1994) Shark Bay marine reserves draft management plan : Shark Bay Marine Park, Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve Department of Conservation and Land Management for the National Parks and Conservation Authority. Perth, W.A : CALM for the National Parks and Nature Conservation Authority. "Shark Bay marine reserves draft management plan 1994" -- Cover.