Posted on 07/16/2018 2:35:55 PM PDT by ETL
The ongoing eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano and continued lava flows into the sea has created a tiny new landmass off the Big Island, officials revealed Friday.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the tiny island formed off the northernmost part of the ocean entry from Fissure 8, and was oozing lava similar to that of the larger lava flow along the coast.
In photos posted by the agency, the "island" is just a few meters off shore, and about 20 to 30 feet in diameter.
"It's most likely part of the fissure 8 flow that's entering the ocean—and possibly a submarine tumulus that built up underwater and emerged above sea level," the USGS said.
But anyone who may have wanted to visit the new landmass in its 'island' form is out of luck, as the agency revealed on Monday it's now connected back to the Big Island by a strip of lava.
"There didn't appear to have been any collapse associated with the island, so it may have been an inflationary feature.
And yes, it's now no longer an 'island' thanks to the lava that's rejoined it with the flow front on land," the USGS said on Twitter in a reply to a question.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Has the first permit been pulled to build condos yet?
Wo Fat Island.
With the first insurance claims to follow shortly thereafter
Interesting. Who owns that Island? Can I move there and claim it?
Would be a great place to invest in real estate. Land doubles every year!
Along the spreading rift in Iceland would be even better.
Pro tip.... Asbestos shoes...
How does Hawaii plan to off set its carbon footprint.?
www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38655817/at-least-12-injured-after-lava-explosion-near-tour-boat-off-big-island
Someone should run out and put a flag on it.
More taxable land!
Easy, just place a carbon tax on every airline ticket. I’d be surprised if they haven’t already done that...
Yeah, if new land is created, who owns it? The first person to stake a claim?
Or does it just default to the state government?
Over 7 million visitors each year. So a $20 carbon tax would bring in a cool $140 million. I doubt anyone would even notice.
As many of you may know, the Hawaiian Islands are a hotspot chain formed as a result of the Pacific tectojic plate drifting slowly over a deep seated stationary volcanic hotspot. The big island is simply the most recent location of the activity. But just off the coast a future island is in the process of emerging.
From Wikipedia...
Loihi Seamount is an active submarine volcano about 22 mi off the southeast coast of the island of Hawaii.[6]
The top of the seamount is about 3,000 ft below sea level.
This seamount is on the flank of Mauna Loa, the largest shield volcano on Earth.
Loihi, meaning “long” in Hawaiian, is the newest volcano in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, a string of volcanoes that stretches over 3,600 mi northwest of Loihi.
Unlike most active volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean that make up the active plate margins on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Loihi and the other volcanoes of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain are hotspot volcanoes and formed well away from the nearest plate boundary.
Volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands arise from the Hawaii hotspot, and as the youngest volcano in the chain, Loihi is the only Hawaiian volcano in the deep submarine preshield stage of development.
Loihi began forming around 400,000 years ago and is expected to begin emerging above sea level about 10,000–100,000 years from now.
At its summit, Loihi Seamount stands more than 10,000 ft above the seafloor, making it taller than Mount St.Helens was before its catastrophic 1980 eruption.
A diverse microbial community resides around Loihi’s many hydrothermal vents. ...”
The volcano has remained relatively active since the 1996 swarm and is monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The Hawaii Undersea Geological Observatory (HUGO) provided real-time data on Loihi between 1997 and 2002.
Loihi last erupted in 1996, before the earthquake swarm of that summer.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loihi_Seamount
I’m waiting for the hot girls to show up.
You just gave me a (not-so) brilliant idea! How about if someone 'tapped' into an offshore magma chamber and created their own small island?
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