I am a rock, I am an island
Not for the first time, and likely not the last, a new island has rapidly emerged from the sea. The most recent one appeared around 1,200 km (750 miles) south of Tokyo, Japan, between 21–30 October 2023.1 An active underwater volcano situated south of the Ogasawara Island, Iwo Jima, spewed out enough material to eventually breach the Pacific Ocean’s surface and created a new landmass of approximately 100 m across (330 feet).
There are reports, such as in ScienceAlert, that give this event a spin to talk about long eons of time:
“Watching islands form from these eruptions … gives incredible insight into how many such islands in the Pacific … once formed, millions of years ago.”2
Of course, nobody witnessed anything supposedly appear millions of years ago, but in the very next two sentences the author writes about another island that formed in 2015, which was destroyed by a subsequent eruption in 2022. She continues, “Who knows how long the new one in Japan will last.”2 This acknowledgment of uncertainty about future affairs contrasts with her assertiveness when it comes to past events. Interestingly, the observations made with this (ongoing) eruption—as well as past islands emerging—tie in very nicely with biblical geology of catastrophic processes during Noah’s Flood.
Notice that the imagined millions of years contribute nothing to the empirical science that she lauds, such as this “living experiment for geologists, volcanologists, biologists, and ecologists to study”.2
Going by past experiences, these scientists will not have to wait very long, as described in our Surtsey still surprises article. Within several years of its formation (beginning in 1963) Surtsey displayed evidence of a mature island, showing it does not require millions, thousands, or even hundreds of years:
“The island has excited geographers, who marvel that canyons, gullies and other land features that typically take tens of thousands or millions of years to form were created in less than a decade.”3
If only people stopped being confused about the ages of the rock and instead believe the revelation of the Rock of ages.
References and notes
- Pare, S., Underwater volcanic eruption gives birth to new island in the Pacific, livescience.com, 8 Nov 2023. Return to text.
- Cassella, C., New island emerges off Japan after powerful underwater volcano eruption, sciencealert.com, 9 Nov 2023. Return to text.
- Pearce, F., The fire-eater’s island, New Scientist 189(2536):48–49, 28 Jan 2006. Return to text.
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