World’s newest island forms in Japanese archipelago

By Francesca Annio and Brad Lendon, CNN

Tokyo (CNN) — The world’s newest island has risen from the sea off the coast of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) told CNN the unnamed island was formed by an undersea volcanic eruption.

Its rise from the ocean was documented in pictures taken by the country’s Maritime Self-Defense Force on November 1.

The photos show a small eruption sending a dark cloud of ash above the tiny island, which is now part of the Ogasawara Island chain.

The JMA has been recording volcanic activity in the area since last year, but the Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo confirmed the island-forming eruption took place on October 30.

Setsuya Nakada, a professor emeritus of volcanology at the University of Tokyo, told the Japan Times this week that magma had been building under the water for some time before it finally broke the surface.

The island sits about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of mainland Japan and a kilometer from Iwo Jima, the island that saw some of the fiercest battles of World War II in the Pacific.

US Marines fought tens of thousands of Japanese garrisoned there in a battle that killed more than 7,000 Americans and 22,000 Japanese troops.

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