alchymista: Until late this month, the Red Sea north of Rugged Island was glassy and clear — and then a new island emerged almost overnight. Yes, that smoking mass of land above is an infant isle, formed by a volcanic eruption. Fishermen off the coast of Yemen witnessed lava fountains 90 feet (30 meters) tall on December 19, 2011; by December 23, what had once been unbroken water surface was now a new chunk of land. The plume in the photo, captured by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite, is likely a mix of volcanic ash and water vapor. The new island is part of the Zubair Group, a line of islands arising from a shield volcano under the Red Sea. In this area, the Red Sea Rift, the African and Arabian tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart, and new ocean crust regularly forms Dammit, I got the new National Geographic huge-ass Atlas of the World* for Christmas, and it’s already out of date! *It’s not a coffee table book, it’s a coffee table. I look like a child when I read it. It’s enormous. I love it.
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alchymista:

Until late this month, the Red Sea north of Rugged Island was glassy and clear — and then a new island emerged almost overnight. Yes, that smoking mass of land above is an infant isle, formed by a volcanic eruption. Fishermen off the coast of Yemen witnessed lava fountains 90 feet (30 meters) tall on December 19, 2011; by December 23, what had once been unbroken water surface was now a new chunk of land. 

The plume in the photo, captured by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite, is likely a mix of volcanic ash and water vapor. The new island is part of the Zubair Group, a line of islands arising from a shield volcano under the Red Sea. In this area, the Red Sea Rift, the African and Arabian tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart, and new ocean crust regularly forms

Dammit, I got the new National Geographic huge-ass Atlas of the World* for Christmas, and it’s already out of date!

*It’s not a coffee table book, it’s a coffee table. I look like a child when I read it. It’s enormous. I love it.

Source: livescience.com

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    /2012! Carl Sagan
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    Do you think Mother Nature just woke up one day and was all, “I’m in the mood for a new island!” or what?

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