4.09.2007

Island lifted 10 feet



A man looks at an exposed coral reef on the remote island of Ranongga. The seismic jolt that unleashed the deadly Solomons tsunami this week lifted an entire island metres out of the sea, destroying some of the world's most pristine coral reefs


Quake lifts Solomons island out of the sea

Excerpt:

In an instant, the grinding of the Earth's tectonic plates in the 8.0 magnitude earthquake Monday forced the island of Ranongga up three metres (10 foot).

Submerged reefs that once attracted scuba divers from around the globe lie exposed and dying after the quake raised the mountainous landmass, which is 32-kilometres (20-miles) long and 8-kilometres (5-miles) wide.

Corals that used to form an underwater wonderland of iridescent blues, greens and reds now bleach under the sun, transforming into a barren moonscape surrounding the island.

Comments:

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883, by Simon Winchester, is a fascinating book that describes plate tectonics. The above article describes a recent dramatic lifting of the earth!

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