The youngest island in the world emerged from the sea off the coast of the Japanese island Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) told CNNi that the unnamed island was formed by underwater volcanic eruption.
Its emergence from the ocean was captured in photos and video taken by the Japanese Navy on November 1st and show a small explosion sending a dark cloud of ash over the tiny island, which is now part of Ogasawara Island Complex.
JMA has been recording volcanic activity in the area since last year, but the University of Tokyo’s Seismological Research Institute confirmed that the eruption that formed the island took place on October 30.
Setchuya Nakada, professor emeritus of volcanology at the University of Tokyo, told The Japan Times this week that the magma had accumulated underwater for some time before finally surfacing.
The island is located approx 1,200 kilometers south of mainland Japan and one kilometer from Iwo Jima, the island that saw some of the fiercest battles of World War II in the Pacific.
With information from: World’s newest island forms in Japanese archipelago by Francesca Annio and Brad Lendon, CNN
