Earthquake experts and the Japanese coast guards have said on Thursday, November 20, 2013 that a new island has been formed due to a volcanic eruption in the seas south of Tokyo. The Japan Meteorological Agency, as well as advisories from the country’s coast guard said that the new islet is around 200 meters in diameter.
The new island is located off the coast of Nishinoshima, which is a tiny, uninhabited island in the Ogasawara chain. There are about 30 islands which are 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo and along with the rest of the country form the Pacific ‘Ring Of Fire’, which is seismically active.
On November 20, 2013, the coast guard released an advisory and warned of heavy black smoke which was created from the eruption. The heavy smoke was seen in a TV footage, which showed ash and rocks exploding from the crater. Hiroshi Ito, a volcanologist with the coast guard said that there was a possibility that the new island could be eroded away, or it could remain as it is permanently.
The last time that the volcano eruptions hit the area was in the mid-1970s. Most of the volcanic activities occur under the sea, which extend thousands of meters deep along the country’s Izu-Ogasawara-Marianas Trench.
Photo Credits: Guardian UK
