OUR white van bounces along a dusty road, meandering past a grey-striped mountain of twisted rock and acres of brushy creosote and prickly yuccas. A startled burro gallops away. Finally, the shuddering 2-hour ride comes to a halt. We step out into the warm desert silence, soil crunching beneath our feet, and peek through tall grasses at a bright turquoise pool filled with striped fish swimming among what looks like coral. Courtney Turich, a biogeochemist from Pennsylvania State University at University Park, dons her scuba gear and dives to about 12 metres to collect samples. After the dive, she reports, "It looks like brain coral, but it's mushy - it's totally cool! These reefs are like some of the first kinds made on Earth."
A primitive reef in a desert pool? That's just one of many surprises lurking in this arid part of Coahuila state in northern Mexico. Here in ...
13:30 14 October 2008
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