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Researchers Witness Birth Of Volcanic Island
chazR writes: "Researchers from CSIRO were present at the creation of a new volcanic island Once the molten lava stops being thrown 70m into the air, I reckon this would make an ideal offshore site for a server farm. Who's going to hassle you on top of a volcano miles from the nearest land. Getting the OC-192 link in could be a problem though ... " Well, that's only if Australia (not me) actually has dibs on the real estate.
The early phases of island-building are phreatomagmatic, as the magma reacts with low-pressure water near the surface. Such eruptions are extremely violent, and don't produce very stable land. Wave action keeps the new island just under the surface.
After the island is large enough to slow wave activity, a ring of tuff usually forms as tephra is deposited by base surges and fallout. This protects the island from the rest of the waves.
Finally, when the vent has little direct contact with the water, the eruption will shift to effusive (Hawaiian style), firmly cementing the loose earth into a stable island.
The same thing happened with the formation of Surtsey, near Iceland, in the 1960s.
- Ricky
"But close by Etna
thunders and its affrighting
showers fall. Sometimes it ejects up to
high heaven a cloud of utter black, bursting
forth in a tornado of pitchy smoke
with white hot lava, and
shoots tongues of flame
to lick the stars."
- Virgil, The Aneid
Back in 1963 an island called Surtsey erupted near Iceland. It was pretty large, and was closely studied for geological and bilogical purposes.
There is at least one book published on the subject. No, I am not shilling(TM) for Orinoco.
"I am an American. You are a sick asshole!!"
spewing molten lava, plumes of sulpherous smoke - geez, if this were people working in a manufacturing plant they'd be elbow deep in environmental lawsuits and under orders to restore everything back to the way it was.
As someone's sig says, "stop plate tectonics!"
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Slashdotted island indeed - if this picture is any indication. Personally, I don't think it was an island - I think it's a coverup: Microsoft has finally entered the arms race. You'll note yesterday's quote that they would (I paraphrase here): "not stand by while our commercial enterprise is destroyed". We all know what happened when Microsoft programmed Encarta to show the world spinning backwards: they rewrote the astronomy section.
How often does a new landmass spring up before the eyes of a group of scientists???
I cant recall the exact figure, but new volcanic islands forming isnt that rare; once or twice a decade or so - perhaps more often still. It is rare that it happens in front of people though. Mostly it happens in uninhabited places, like e.g. in the Aleutians or off New Guineas shore.
Most of these new volcanic islands dont last though. The volcanic rock formed by the sudden cooling of magma by seawater in shallow water is brittle and easily eroded, and sea waves usually obliterate the new islands within months of the end of the eruption.
It is only when the eruption is large or long enough that the vent comes completely clear of seawater. Then the magma can solidify into a harder, more solid shield protecting the looser material below from erosion. If this happens the island should last for many decades at least, with no renewed activity. Surtsey in Iceland in 1963 is an example of this, and IIRC the only new volcanic island formed in the 20th century which still exists.
If the island lasts long enough (a few decades) the loose material (tephra) made from the phreatomagmatic (explosive activity from interaction of magma and water) activity early in the eruption undergoes a chemical transition and becomes hyaloclastite, a rock even harder than the overlying shield of lava. So, after a long time with no activity, when the lava shield is eroded away, the former soft core of the island remains as steep pillars, cliffs and seamounts.
/Dervak
ABC has video from the site.
The new island is near the Solomon Islands.
The Solomon Islands is a group of islands to the east of Papua New Guinea. There was quite a bit of action around there in World War Two.
At the moment in the Solomon Islands there is a lot of tension between the ethnic groups particularly on Gaudalcanal. An ethnic group from another less fertile island were attracted to Gaudalcanal due to the easier lifestyle. The original inhabitants of the island are getting uneasy and have formed militias arming themselves with guns left over from World War 2. The militia members dress in traditional bark loincloths. Its a shock to see someone wearing tribal dress and caring guns.
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
It says in the article that they approached within 750m of the thing. Holy cow! If there was a undersea landslide they'd have been toast.
It reminds me of the guys who stayed to monitor and film Penatubo while the US military was evacuating. I've seen films of the thing -- it looked like a picture from Hell's national park. The ash cloud went up for miles and there was huge blasts lightning coming out of it. If I were anywhere within 20 miles of the thing I'd be getting out fast.
I once talked with an uncharacteristically prudent volcano researcher who told this story. He and his crew found a nice grassy spot to camp near the volcano they were studying. There were lots of boulders lying around, so when they were setting up camp they decided to move one of the them to make some more room. After finding green grass underneath, they decided to camp further away.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
If all the faithful slashdot readers go visit the new island, can will it be the first recorded slashdotting of a landform?
Yes, humans can trimph over nature!
"I CLAIM THIS ISLAND IN THE NAME OF SPAIN!!!"
;-)
"But, is it an African island or a European island?"
Oops. My Karma just went down like an NT server...
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."--Tacitus, *The Annals*
Yeah, that would be cool! When the volcano erupts again you'd get rid of all your deviant and stupid geeks at the same time!
Sorry, bad pun. Now my karma's going down like an overclocked Win2k server running on that island without a heatsink.
Here are a few resources for anyone with the guts to make a go of it, and the brains to do it right. Some cover artificial islands, and some natural.
Proposed Inhabited Artificial Islands in International Waters
United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea Alas, for an 'artificial island' server farm, Article 121 states "3. Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf." Sections 60 and 80 confirm this. For 'natural islands' the key article seems to be Article 76, covering the 'continental shelf' provision.
Isn't the new volcanic island off New Zealand? if so, this summary of the New Zealand Geologic and Oceanographic Service's interpretation of UNCLOS may be useful.
There's a lot more, but basically sovereignity does *not* depend on actually possessing territory (the Vatican was sovereign during the time when Italy claimed its territory, as acknowledged by the other major powers) and actually possessing territory, the consent of the governed, and an independent, fully functioning government with military forces sufficient to defend that territory is not enough to guarantee sovereignity. (Taiwan was once thrown out of the UN because it was deemed to lack sovereignity despite possessing all of these)
Happy planning -- and best'o'luck to you!
_____________
If you can go to bed, knowing you did a valuable thing today, you're very lucky. If you can't... it's not bedtime