Another phoenix-like island has emerged from the volcanic ash of the Ring of Fire – this time off the coast of Japan’s Ogasawara Islands, a distant archipelago also known as the Bonin Islands.
The fresh new landmass in the Pacific Ocean is the youngest of all its neighbors and was formed from an ongoing undersea volcanic eruption that began on October 21st.
Volcanologist Setsuya Nakada of the University of Tokyo told The Japan Times that the underwater volcanic eruption that formed the island began as a “vertical jet” of solidified magma shooting high above the waves.
Thereafter, the outbreak was sustained by relatively continuous bursts.
A photo of the submarine breakout on November 3rd. (Setsuya Nakada/The Japan Times)
As all this debris fell back into the ocean as lava mixed with a porous, low-density material called pumice, the rock mound built up until it was high enough to peer from the depths like a periscope.
By Nov. 3, the underwater volcano had shifted gears and was spewing mostly ash, says Nakada, who flew over the site that day.
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The young landmass lies within sight of Iwo Jima, an island about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Tokyo that currently has no permanent residents. This island was once the site of a famous battle between American and Japanese forces during World War II.
Its new neighbor is just over a kilometer offshore, and although the fresh pumice is not far above the waterline, it was about two kilometers in diameter on Friday.
A bird’s eye view of the new volcanic island. (Setsuya Nakada/The Japan Times)
The only people who can admire the new view from Iwo Jima are those stationed at a Japanese Self-Defense Forces base.
The outbreak is currently ongoing, although it appears to have peaked and is calming down somewhat.
On November 3, clouds of smoke and ash rose from the new volcanic island that had formed in Japanese waters. (Setsuya Nakada/The Japan Times)
While the new landmass may grow slightly larger in the coming days, any pumice not cemented by lava flows would be eroded away, raising questions about how much of the island might remain over time.
According to Nakada, submarine volcanic eruptions in this part of the world usually only last about a month.
Photos of the volcanic eruption and the new island of Iwo Jima in early November. (Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force/The New York Times)
While much is known about the active land volcanoes that line the Ring of Fire, an active zone on the Pacific Ocean, far less is known about the vents and fissures on the ocean floor.
Scientists estimate that there are over a million underwater volcanoes worldwide, but many of them are likely extinct and even the active ones are often too deep to allow observations above water.
In fact, one of the largest eruptions in Japan’s history was the result of an underwater eruption in 1924 – although the volcano’s location was not determined until much later.
Only in the last few decades have scientists finally managed to observe submarine volcanoes in action.
It’s even rarer to see islands forming in these eruptions, although it provides incredible insight into the number of such islands in the Pacific, including the Hawaiian Islands, that once formed millions of years ago.
In 2015, for example, a new island emerged in the South Pacific that represented an incredible living experiment for geologists, volcanologists, biologists and ecologists.
By 2022, the island had already disappeared, destroyed by another eruption.
Who knows how long the new one will last in Japan.
“There is a possibility that the (new) island could merge with Iwo Jima if the eruption continues,” Nakada told The Japan Times.
Only time can tell.