A small volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean emerged from under the water just three years ago, but it has already been inhabited by birds and covered with plants. And recently, an unusual mud of mysterious origin was discovered here.
The island, which does not yet have a name, originated in the Kingdom of Tonga in Polynesia. This is just one of three new islands that have emerged in the oceans over the past 150 years and have existed for more than three months.
Its unofficial local name is Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, after the name of the nearby small island, to which the new island was connected by a strip of land.
The new island was created by the eruption of an underwater volcano. The island is 1.8 kilometers long and 1.2 kilometers wide.
When researchers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center landed on it in October 2018, it turned out that the island was not only already inhabited by birds and overgrown with plants, but was all covered with an unusual brown and very sticky mud.
Usually such volcanic islands are nothing more than a pile of bare rocks and solidified lava. This islet really stands out from a number of similar ones.
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As researcher Dan Slighback writes in his blog, the seeds of the plants were apparently brought to the island by birds, but how the brown clay-like mud, abundantly covering everything around, got here remains a mystery. As well as what substances it consists of.
The researchers collected samples of mud and other rocks for later mineral analysis. The team intends to return here next year to further explore the island.
According to researchers. this island has all the tendencies to last long enough, perhaps even several decades.