A huge cluster ‘raft’ of floating volcanic rocks covering an area almost the size of Belgium has been spotted drifting in the Pacific Ocean.
The gigantic cluster, made up of lightweight pumice expelled from an underwater volcano and spread over 26,000 sq kilometres, has been spotted drifting in the ocean by a military aircraft, about 1,000 kilometres off the coast of New Zealand.
A naval ship had to change direction to avoid the rocks, which were spread out over thousands of square miles.
Experts reckon the rocks were formed by lava released from an underwater volcano, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
Lieutenant Tim Oscar said that while he knew his ship the HMNZS Canterbury was in no danger from the floating rocks, or pumice, which is solidified lava filled with air bubbles, it was still the “weirdest thing” he’s seen in 18 years at sea.
“As far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell,” he said.
Scientists aboard the ship said the pumice probably came from an underwater volcano called Monowai, which has been active recently.
They said the phenomenon was unrelated to increased volcanic activity in New Zealand this week, including an eruption at Mount Tongariro that sent an ash cloud 20,000 feet into the atmosphere.
The pumice is lighter than seawater -- so the rocks quickly rise to the ocean surface.
Keywords: huge volcanic rock, Pacific Ocean
Will this eventually collide or get deposited on a land mass in the region?
Similar 'islands' of pumice were observed after the eruption/explosion
of Krakatoa in 1883.
Mother nature always continues to amaze me. Outstanding!
The thought occured to me....covering an area of 10,000 square miles, thats a lot of pumice. Why couldn't it be harvested;using it for a mild abrasive; in soap,as a rottenstone material,etc.? The supply would probably last for years.
no pillow basalt is a volcanic rock called basalt that is extruded
underwater. the water cools the basalts surface which then cracks
extrudes some more solidifies again..... Pumice is a glassy volcanic
rock it is basically like lava froth, foam, whipped cream, it is so full
of gas bubble that when it solidifies it will float.
Pumice is usually ejected energetically during eruption, in airborne fashion, and is
thus able to rapidly cool and entrap volcanic gases as bubbles and become buoyant.
Pillow basalt is a unique form of basaltic eruption under seawater, which exudes out
and cools quickly in a hummocky formation. I have seen pictures, but not the real
thing, although I am aware that there are pillow basalt formations on Whidbey Island
near the town of Bellingham where we live.
perhaps all our scanning of oceans by the technology is deficient and not scientific.better data analysis and more importance to data readily available in remote areas where it is non commercial is also to be considered for shipping in the cold remote seas for at least safety of people and from ecological point of view.
Could the planet earth find itself consumed by fire? The volcanoes that
have erupted this week alone and have been reported are (1) New Zealand,
(2)Iran, (3) under water in the Pacific's Ring of Fire. Has there ever
been this much volcanic activity at one time?
Arthur - "Pillow basalt" are very solid and heavy extrusions. They may
have some holes of gas (vesicles), but they're not nearly frothy enough
to float.
Pillow basalt does not float; the term refers to the general shape of the rock formed as it emerges into the water and cools. It can be quite large, solid, and heavy. R'lyh rising! R'liyh rising, vote Cthulhu for the Republican ticket.
Need to figure out a way to blame this on man made global warming. Oh! More volcanoes are erupting because we are making it so hot!
This is not floating trash, these are the fine words of mother nature speaking against the environment disasters caused by humans !
God bless these Volcanoes they convey the anger Maa nature feels towards the wayward and the deviant beneficiaries on the surface of the earth !
Arthur P. Kaske,
No. Pillow basalts and pumice are two different types of lava/rock formation from a lava flow. Also, pumice is typically composed of different materials than basalt.
I remember discovering basalt rocks as a Kid in a volcanic region near Mammoth Lakes, California...seemed magical at the time how light they were. You'd think that people could find some great uses for this stuff, maybe to make ships out of or something like that. But this article reminds me of that time way back then.. :)
This article is useless without pictures of this ice shelf.
No Arthur P. Kaske, pillows of basalt are not the same. Basalt is another type of lava formation altogether. Basalt lava has completely different characteristics than pumice and the way they form (rate of ejection and cooling times) vary drastically.
Why does the headline refer to the phenomena as an "ice-shelf"? It isn't refered to that way in the article.
"Experts reckon the rocks were formed by lava released from an underwater volcano"...
"pumice, which is solidified lava filled with air bubbles"...
so how did this pumice fill up with air underwater? scientists, meh!
Wonder why The Hindu couldn't obtain a picture relevant to the
story, when there are so many available. The one in this news item
is a poorly cropped picture of two people sitting by an 'infinity'
pool at a seaside resort!
This volcanic rocks helps in studying the oceanology.
The short stories, 'Dagon' and 'The Call of Cthulhu' by H.P. Lovecraft come to mind after reading this!
I'm fairly new to geology, and so I wonder if the floating material is still referred to as "pillows" of basalt usually evidenced in under water volcanic activities?
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