Researchers have found the Great Barrier Reef could be all but gone within 100 years if nothing is done about the damaging carbon dioxide levels.

A new study has sought to test the effects of various climatic situations on the Great Barrier Reef; scenarios were created in carefully designed mini coral reef ecosystems built inside tubs. Researchers have been working on the project at Heron Island, off the coast of Gladstone. The team from the University of Queensland will continue a series of tests until September, but already have some concerning results.

Lead researcher Sophie Dove said they were alarmed at the models of current C02 trends if they continued unchanged, she said “Under the business-as-usual CO2 scenario, we found that the reefs were actually decalcifying... it's quite alarming - there is more damage than I would have thought when I started out. I would have thought that more things would survive and it would look a lot healthier than it does."

Ms Dove said based on their simulations in the tubs, decalcified reefs would have almost no chance of recovery after a severe event such as a cyclone.