New islands

New islands are islands which have been created recently, whether by means of volcanism, erosion, glacial retreat, or other mechanisms. One of the most famous new volcanic islands is the small island of Surtsey, located in the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland. It first emerged from the ocean surface only in 1963. In 1965, it was declared a nature reserve for the study of ecological succession; plants, insects, birds, seals, and other forms of life have since established themselves on the island.

Another noted new island is Anak Krakatau (the so-called "child of Krakatoa", which formed in the flooded caldera of that notorious volcano in Indonesia), which only emerged in 1930. Ample rainforests have grown there, though they are often destroyed by frequent eruptions. A population of many wild animals, including insects, birds, humanborne rats, and even monitor lizards, have also settled there.

Uunartoq Qeqertoq is an island off the east coast of Greenland that appeared to have split from the mainland due to glacial retreat between 2002 and 2005; however, it is believed to have been a true island, with or without glacial covering, for many thousands of years.

In February and March 2009, a vigorous eruption created a new island^[1] near Hunga Ha'apai in the Tongan Islands of the southwest Pacific. By the end of the activity, however, the new land mass was connected to Hunga Ha'apai.^[2]

On September 24, 2013 a new island emerged off the coast of Gwadar, as a result of a strong earthquake that hit south and southwest Pakistan measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale.^[3]

On November 21, 2013 an unnamed island emerged off the coast of Nishinoshima, a small, uninhabited island in the Ogasawara chain, which is also known as the Bonin Islands. The coast guard and the Japan Meteorological Agency said the islet is 650 feet in diameter.^[4]

List of recently created islands

This is a list mostly of submarine volcanoes that later became new volcanic islands during the 20th and the 21st centuries. Aside from Anak Krakatau, only Surtsey, Nishinoshima and Home Reef are currently islands, and Surtsey is the only one that is expected to survive.

Name of the island	Country	Land formation year(s)
Nishinoshima	Japan	1973-74[5]
"Niijima" (provisional name)	Japan	2013[4][5][6]
Zalzala Jazeera	Pakistan	2013[7]
Zubair Group, Yemen	Yemen	2011[8]
Peer Ghaib, Balochistan	Pakistan	2010, 2004[9]
Home Reef	Tonga	2006, 1984[10]
Norderoogsand	Germany	1999[11]
Kavachi	Solomon Islands	1999-2003, 1991, 1986, 1978, 1976, 1969–70, 1965, 1963–64, 1961, 1958, 1952-53[12]
Metis Shoal	Tonga	1995, 1979, 1967-68[13]
Fukutoku-Okanoba	Japan	1986, 1974–75, 1914, 1904-05[14]
Kuwae	Tonga	1974, 1971, 1959, 1949, 1948, 1923-25[15]
Surtsey	Iceland	1963-67[16]
Myōjin-shō	Japan	1952-53, 1946[17]
Anak Krakatau	Indonesia	1927-30[18]
Fonuafo'ou	Tonga	1927-28[19]
Banua Wuhu	Indonesia	1918-19, 1904[20]

References