What Lies Beneath?

You probably know Australia boasts koala bears, kangaroos and the famous Opera House.

But do you know what's under the land down under?

My colleagues at the Pew Environment Group and Save Our Marine Life, an Australian conservation alliance, teamed up with Google Earth to create a video showing rarely-seen underwater treasures off the country's southwest coast.

The video is designed to showcase the area's environmental jewels as the Australian government examines which ocean areas could be set aside as marine sanctuaries – large areas important for protection of unique marine life where people cannot fish, mine or remove natural resources. The government is due to finalize areas for protection later this year, and conservation groups want to ensure the most valuable areas make the cut.

The narrated four-minute video uses Google Earth, underwater footage from the Centre for Marine Futures at the University of Western Australia and Geosciences Australia, as well as 3D modeling to show marine life living within the relatively unknown underwater canyons and submerged mountain ranges.

Read the rest of the article "What Lies Beneath?" and view the tour at the Discovery News Web site.