Japan. Formation of a new Island.

[video]http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/02/28/pkg-orig-volcano-forms-new-island-japan.cnn?sr=fb030115volcanoisland3pvodlink[/video]


This is so cool!

There's actually a new volcanic island forming south of the Big Island in Hawaii. It just hasn't broken the surface of the water yet and won't for another 50,000 years. But arrogant creatures that we humans are, we've already named it Loihi.


http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9609/16/loihi/

Nova said:

There's actually a new volcanic island forming south of the Big Island in Hawaii. It just hasn't broken the surface of the water yet and won't for another 50,000 years. But arrogant creatures that we humans are, we've already named it Loihi.


http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9609/16/loihi/

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I could sit all day and read things like this. Thanks Nova.

I already called dibs on the Hawaiian island since I learned about it in college about 20 years ago and I'm pretty sure my niece has called dibs on this new Japanese island. However, she and are benevolent and generous rulers and will happily offer all WSer's the right to citizenship on our new islands. Tulessa, you are quite welcome to build an amazing cabin on my Hawaiian island and come be my neighbor, lol.

SwampMama said:

I already called dibs on the Hawaiian island since I learned about it in college about 20 years ago and I'm pretty sure my niece has called dibs on this new Japanese island. However, she and are benevolent and generous rulers and will happily offer all WSer's the right to citizenship on our new islands. Tulessa, you are quite welcome to build an amazing cabin on my Hawaiian island and come be my neighbor, lol.

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LOL, thanks mama.

I'd be careful about claiming an island in the Hawaiian chain. The last country to attack there didn't fare so well.

Tulessa, I don't have a link, but I have seen video of Loihi (pronounced "Lo-EE-hee" BTW) in documentaries. It is smoking away, 3,000 feet below the surface and a new eco-system has grown up around it.

For those who care, there is a hole in the center of the Pacific Plate that allows lava to leak through and form volcanoes. As the plate moves over time, the hole moves with it and a new volcano/island forms at the new site. That's why the islands sit in a row: each represents the position of the hole in the plate when the island was formed. (This is different from the volcanoes along the rim of the "Ring of Fire"; they are formed in a different manner.)

The other side of the equation is that the older islands tend to "shed" huge sections back into the sea. That's why the Big Island is so big: it is the youngest of the islands. When large sections of land slip back in to the ocean, there is a great likelihood of a tsunami, one that could devastate Asia and/or the West Coast of the Americas.