Canary Islands Eruption Could Create New Land 93
wanzeo writes "An undersea volcano is erupting off the coast of the Canary Islands, bringing the potential for new land formation. The lava peak has grown 100 meters from the ocean floor, and is now just 70 meters from the surface. It has been seen ejecting rocks from the sea and producing jets of water 20 meters high. Increasing seismic activity has been monitored since July, an indication that magma is rapidly moving toward the surface. Local residents have been evacuated because of the potential danger from falling rocks or violent steam explosions if the lava gets too close."
Re:Dibs! (Score:2, Informative)
Finally, a place for Peter Thiel's libertarian paradise!
Re:How far off shore? (Score:5, Informative)
I read the articles, and it's possible I missed something, but how far away from the existing land masses is the eruption and in which direction? All I saw was a vague mention of "South" at some point.
Anyone?
Sure, between 2.6 and 3 km south of "La Restinga", "El Hierro" island
Re:How far off shore? (Score:4, Informative)
From the TFA (photos):
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-74922-16.html [spiegel.de]
Re:How far off shore? (Score:2, Informative)
Thanks!
Re:More information (Score:4, Informative)
Zero. An atoll is made up of coral, not volcanic rock.
Re:Where's the video? (Score:5, Informative)
Somthing like this [youtube.com]?
Better article (Score:4, Informative)
The Wired article from last month has better pictures and more information
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/el-hierro-eruption-continues-but-not-likely-to-form-new-island/ [wired.com]
Re:More information (Score:4, Informative)
Zero. An atoll is made up of coral, not volcanic rock.
I believe that answer is actually much greater than zero (possibly 1.00), depending upon the the allowed timescale. Coral atolls are formed on top of old volcanices.
From the last the last of the following links:
"In 1842 Darwin explained the creation of coral atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean based upon observations made during a five-year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836. Accepted as basically correct, his explanation involved considering that several tropical island types—from high volcanic island, through barrier reef island, to atoll—represented a sequence of gradual subsidence of what started as an oceanic volcano. He reasoned that a fringing coral reef surrounding a volcanic island in the tropical sea will grow upwards as the island subsides (sinks), becoming an "almost atoll", or barrier reef island, as typified by an island such as Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, Bora Bora and others in the Society Islands. The fringing reef becomes a barrier reef for the reason that the outer part of the reef maintains itself near sea level through biotic growth, while the inner part of the reef falls behind, becoming a lagoon because conditions are less favorable for the coral and calcareous algae responsible for most reef growth. In time, subsidence carries the old volcano below the ocean surface and the barrier reef remains. At this point, the island has become an atoll."
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Atoll [eoearth.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_Hawaiian_volcanoes [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atoll [wikipedia.org]
Re:Dibs! (Score:5, Informative)
Funny enough, that already happened. In 1811 a similar underwater eruption near the Azores.
While this island lies clearly within the territorial limits of the Canary Islands (Spain) the question of Lo'ihi [usgs.gov] is not so certain.
Lo'ihi is still some distance (~969 meters) below the surface, but growing steadily, and when it breaks the surface it will be 30km from the Big Island in Hawaii, which is well outside the US claimed 22km territorial limit [wikipedia.org]. The chances of the US allowing anyone else to claim it are slim to none, but the precedent set in 1811 would pretty much assure the US will have boots on the ground before anyone else gets a chance.
While Hawaiian volcanoes are typically slow growing, Lo'ihi is thought to be fed by the same lava plume feeding the Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes. Should the plume find easier going to the east, Lo'ihi could draw upon pretty vast resources and grow much faster.