New island springs up near Japan

A brand new island has burst through the Pacific Ocean after a powerful volcanic eruption brought it to life.

An undersea volcanic eruption on October 30 created the world’s newest island off the coast of Japan.

The incredible moment it rose from the ocean was captured by photo and video.

Photos taken by Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force on November 1 show an eruption that sent a dark cloud of ash into the sky above the tiny island.

Video footage shared by Japanese news agency The Asahi Shimbun Company also showed grey plumes of debris shooting into the air as the tiny island formed under the eruption.

Red-hot magma was thrown into the sky while the ocean lapped up against the newly created island.

The island is about 1200 kilometres south of mainland Japan and a kilometre from Iwo Jima, an island that was a major battleground during World War II.

Now part of the Ogasawara Island chain, it is made mostly of rock formed north of the eruption site and could grow larger if volcanic activity continues, the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo said.

Professor of volcanology at the University of Tokyo Setsuya Nakada told newspaper The Japan Times that magma had been building under the water for a while before it finally broke the surface.

“In an earlier stage, a vertical jet of black colour, debris — which is a solidified magma — and water gushed upward,” Professor Nakada said after he flew over the site.

“Since November 3, the eruption started changing and the emission of volcanic ash continued explosively.”

The eruptions began off the coast of Japan earlier this year and are still going.

New islands have been created in the area before but usually return under water within a few months because of the harsh conditions of the sea.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• plumes: clouds of smoke
• magma: very hot semi-liquid rock from under the Earth’s surface
• volcanology: the study of volcanoes
• solidified magma: hardened magma
• emission: pushing out

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QUICK QUIZ
1. Where was the new island formed?
2. What created the island?
3. What is the island made from?
4. Why have other new islands in the area disappeared from view?
5. What is magma?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Volcanic island
What would you name this new island popping out from below the sea?

If you could design a house that could be built on it, to withstand the elements and weather conditions around it, what would it look like?

Sketch the design of your house and outline its features.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Design and Technologies, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
What do you know about underwater volcanic eruptions? After watching the video, how do you think these volcanoes affect the wildlife and environment surrounding them?

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Vocabulary recycle
There is some vivid vocabulary being used in the article, and I am not just talking about the glossary words. Go through the article and highlight the high-level language that you are impressed by in yellow.

See if you can borrow two of these wow words to reuse in your own way.

Remember vocabulary is a great way to connect with the audience, but you need to think about who your audience is so you make great word choices.

Who will the audience be in your recycled sentences?