One island reaching out for anotherNewly born land also seems to feel the need for friendship, as de
One island reaching out for anotherNewly born land also seems to feel the need for friendship, as demonstrated by this pair of islands in the Pacific Ocean on the Tonga island arc, a chain of aerial and submarine volcanoes that result from a subduction zone where the pacific plate is plunging into the mantle. The water is released from the descending slab as the heat and pressure rise, and ‘fertilises’ the wedge of mantle above it, lowering its melting temperature and resulting in the formation of magma, which then rises through weak points in the crust towards the surface. As the pair of satellite photos taken a year apart shows, a submarine eruption last December linked two islets called Hunga Tonga (right) and Hunga Ha’apai (left) into one landmass, though how long it will survive the forces of erosion remains to be seen. The new isle is some 120 metres high, and 1,5x2km around.LozImage credit: NASA -- source link
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