Thread: Huge Area of Volcanic Rock Found Floating in South Pacific Ocean

Huge Area of Volcanic Rock Found Floating in South Pacific Ocean

Sally Turner | Aug 10, 2012 11:33am EDT | 0.54min:sec

The Royal New Zealand Defense Air Force has released aerial footage of an area of floating volcanic rock spotted north of New Zealand on Thursday. The rock known as pumice stone stretches over an area of 250 nautical miles wide in the South Pacific Ocean. The location of the rock was relayed to HMNZS Canterbury and the ship changed course to retrieve samples of the pumice stone. The geoscience research company GNS Science said the pumice stone had come from the underwater Monowai volcano. Officials said they do not believe the rock poses any danger to ships in the area.


Huge Area of Volcanic Rock Found Floating in South Pacific Ocean | IBTimes TV

Huge volcanic rock ‘ice-shelf’ spotted in Pacific

PTI
A huge cluster ‘raft’ of floating volcanic rocks covering an area almost the size of Belgium has been spotted drifting in the Pacific Ocean.

The gigantic cluster, made up of lightweight pumice expelled from an underwater volcano and spread over 26,000 sq kilometres, has been spotted drifting in the ocean by a military aircraft, about 1,000 kilometres off the coast of New Zealand.

A naval ship had to change direction to avoid the rocks, which were spread out over thousands of square miles.

Experts reckon the rocks were formed by lava released from an underwater volcano, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.

Lieutenant Tim Oscar said that while he knew his ship the HMNZS Canterbury was in no danger from the floating rocks, or pumice, which is solidified lava filled with air bubbles, it was still the “weirdest thing” he’s seen in 18 years at sea.

“As far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell,” he said.

Scientists aboard the ship said the pumice probably came from an underwater volcano called Monowai, which has been active recently.
They said the phenomenon was unrelated to increased volcanic activity in New Zealand this week, including an eruption at Mount Tongariro that sent an ash cloud 20,000 feet into the atmosphere.

The pumice is lighter than seawater -- so the rocks quickly rise to the ocean surface.

The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Science : Huge volcanic rock

FLOATING ROCKS, BIG SHRIMP ?

http://www.alipac.us/f19/foot-long-s...mexico-262455/