No tears, please.
, resulted in a similar — and temporary — island mass. Five years later, there was another eruption, and thus another fleeting island. Eruptions in 1984 and 2006 continued the same pattern: a volcano erupts, an "island" forms, and the island disappears.Unfortunately, there's not very much structural integrity to these ephemeral oceanic oddities. They're largely ash and minerals, so erosion chips away at them pretty easily — humans couldn't even walk on them if we wanted to.
"It's more like a large layer of ash, steam and pumice over the ocean," Rennie Vaiomounga, a geologist at Tonga Geological Services, toldReferring to these strange little isles as "geological [puzzles]," he added: "we never know when the [islands] will appear or when it will disappear." Though it's strange to think of an island as something ephemeral, these fleeting additions to the Earth aren't traditional landmasses. And if anything, our newest baby volcano isle might serve as a reminder that our Earth itself is more than just a rock. It's still growing, changing, and transforming, much like the greater cosmos itself — and in our humble opinion, that's pretty damn cool.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Cancer progress threatened by pandemic and Roe decision, scientists sayThere's been a 32% reduction in American cancer deaths from 1991 to 2019, with a 2.3% drop every year between 2016 and 2019, according to the American Association for Cancer Research.
Read more »
What You Need To Know Today: Take A ‘Toxic Tour’ Of LA, Street Vendors Bill Becomes Law, NASA Spacecraft Meets AsteroidSeptember 26: the news briefing you need to start your day.
Read more »
Breakthrough COVID Infections Increase Immunity, Study Says'Even if you're older, your chances of having a severe illness if you're re-infected down the line appear to be much lower than it was at the start of the pandemic.'
Read more »
New nuclear threats raise risk from a 'cornered Putin': ExpertsEven before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, U.S. officials warned global peace would be endangered if Russian President Vladimir Putin were allowed to brazenly seize another sovereign country.
Read more »
Why A.I. will never rule the world | Digital TrendsDespite fears that A.I. will one day take over the world, some experts contend that our existing A.I. systems are incapable of surpassing human intelligence
Read more »