Kenn Reefs

Kenn Reef is a submerged coral atoll off the Pacific coast of Queensland, Australia. It is about 15 by 8 km and appears as either a backward facing “L“ or a boot. The reef covers an area of approximately 40 km², with an islet in the Southeast part of the reef called Observatory Cay which is approximately 2 m above the high tide level

It is part of the Coral Sea Islands and is over 280 nm north-east from Gladstone, Queensland.

Kenn Reef is located on part of a submerged continental block, called the Kenn Plateau. This block drifted from Australia around 64 to 52 million years ago. The atoll is believed to be volcanic in origin.

The reef was discovered by Mr. Alexander Kenn, Master of the ship William Shand, on her passage from Sydney to Batavia,

Kenn Reef is a remotely situated reef in the south eastern waters of the Coral Sea, it lies approximately 100 km northeast from Bird Islet part of the Wreck Reefs and 140 km southeast from the Frederick Reefs; the Bellona Reefs of New Caledonia are located a further 277 km to the east, with the Australian mainland being located over 500 km to the southwest.

Kenn Reef is part of a submerged continental block, called the Kenn Plateau. The Kenn Plateau lies off the north eastern Australian coast and is a region characterised by a series of prominent, bathymetric troughs and marginal plateaux. And is submerged by 1000 m to over 3000 m of water. The Kenn Plateau, covers around 100,000 km², an area larger than the Tasmanian landmass.

Various islands and reefs, whose origin is thought to be related to the Tasmantid Seamount Chain, lie along the western margin of the Kenn Plateau and include the well known Kenn Reef and Bird and Cato Island.

The Kenn Plateau is thought to have formed as a sliver of continental crust, resulting from the rifting and seafloor spreading that occurred between 95 and 52 million years ago, along the eastern Australian margin forming the Tasman and Coral Sea basins

The Kenn Reef areas consists of four main reefs which cover an area of approximately 40 km² looking like a backward facing L-shaped structure (or boot) of 15 km in length, with a maximum width of 8 km along the southern edge.

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Wikipedia