Now 18 metre high island created by Pakistani earthquake
is emitting flammable gas and killing sea life
- - People have been warned to avoid the island as gases are still emitting
- - The mountain-like island appeared 600m off Pakistan's Gwadar coast
- - The earthquake triggered a movement of gases in the earth under the sea
- - This pushed earth up to the surface in something akin to a 'mud volcano'
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A new island that emerged off the coast of Pakistan following a devastating earthquake has been releasing flammable gas and killing sea life in the area.
Dead fish have been spotted floating on the surface of the waters surrounding the island and visitors have heard hissing noises from the escaping gas.
The island was created following 7.8 magnitude quake struck 145 miles southeast of Dalbandin in Pakistan's quake-prone province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran, on Tuesday.
A new island that emerged off the coast of Pakistan following a devastating earthquake has been releasing flammable gas and killing sea life in the area
The earthquake was so powerful that it caused the seabed to rise and create a small, mountain-like island about 600 meters off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline in the Arabian Sea.
Bahram Baloch, a local journalist told the BBC how residents could hear sounds of gas escaping.
'Although they couldn't smell gas, they did put a match to the fissures from where it was oozing, and set it on fire,' he said.
'We put the fire out in the end, but it was quite a hassle. Not even the water could kill it, unless one poured buckets over it.'
An aerial view of the island which is thought to be about 60 feet (18 meters) high, 100 feet (30 meters) long and 250 feet (76 meters) wide
A Pakistani Navy team reached the island by midday Wednesday, navy geologist Mohammed Danish told the country's Geo Television.
He said the mass was about 60 feet (18 meters) high, 100 feet (30 meters) long and 250 feet (76 meters) wide.
'There are stones and mud,' he said, warning residents not to try to visit the island. 'Gasses are still emitting.'
Dead fish floated on the water's surface while local residents were visiting the island and taking stones as souvenirs, he added.
Zahid Rafi, principal seismologist for the National Seismic Monitoring Center, said such masses are sometimes created by the movement of gases locked in the earth under the sea, pushing mud and earth up to the surface in something akin to a mud volcano.
'When such a strong earthquake builds pressure, there is the likelihood of such islands emerging,' he said. 'That big shock beneath the earth causes a lot of disturbance.'
This liquefaction of sand layers takes place after any earthquake, but these sudden islands are usually only spotted after strong earthquakes, at least 7- or 8-magnitude events.
Zahid Rafi, principal seismologist for the National Seismic Monitoring Center, said such masses are sometimes created by the movement
of gases locked in the earth under the sea, pushing mud and earth up to the surface in something akin to a mud volcano
To get a better idea of what the island is made of and how permanent it is, scientists will have to get samples of the material to see if
it's mostly soft mud or rocks and harder material
HOW THE ISLAND WAS FORMED
Scientists believe the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which struck 145 miles southeast of Dalbandin in Baluchistan, triggered what is known as 'mud volcano'.
They occur where there is a reservoir of loosely compacted sediments buried beneath harder, denser rock and a path is made to the surface.
The seismic waves caused a movement of gases locked in the earth under the sea, pushing mud and earth up to the surface along with gas.
These sudden islands are usually only spotted after strong earthquakes, at least 7- or 8-magnitude events.
Richard Luckett a seismologist at the British Geological Survey said that these mud volcanoes are relatively common in this area on both land and at sea.
‘They occur where there is a reservoir of loosely compacted sediments buried beneath harder, denser rock and a path is made to the surface,’ he told Mail Online.
‘There is a subducting plate boundary in this region where the Arabian plate is converging on the Eurasian plate at about 2cm a year and being pushed beneath it.
‘This is the same plate boundary responsible for the magnitude 7.7 earthquake.’
Scientists believe gases associated with the melting at the plate boundary contribute to heating the mud in the reservoirs and making it more fluid.
‘Certainly mud volcanoes are most common near this type of plate boundary, such as in Japan,’ said Dr Luckett.
‘It is known that mud volcanoes can be triggered by large nearby earthquakes – in fact the same thing happened in this area in 2001.
‘The exact mechanism for this triggering is poorly understood but the fact that mud volcanoes often occur without a triggering earthquake suggests that little extra impetus is required.’
To get a better idea of what the island is made of and how permanent it is, scientists will have to get samples of the material to see if it's mostly soft mud or rocks and harder material.
These types of islands can remain for a long time or eventually subside back into the ocean, depending on their makeup.
The 7.8 magnitude quake struck 145 miles southeast of Dalbandin in Pakistan's quake-prone province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran,
on Tuesday
Dozens of people had already visited the island, said the deputy commissioner of Gwadar district, Tufail Baloch, who travelled by boat himself to the island this morning
Such land masses have appeared before off Pakistan's Makran coast, said Muhammed Arshad, a hydrographer with the navy. After quakes in 1999 and 2010, new land masses rose up along a different part of the coast about 282 kilometers (175 miles) east of Gwadar, he said.
He said each of those disappeared back into the sea within a year during the monsoon season, a period of heavy rain and wind that sweeps Pakistan every summer. He said that in the area where the island was created on Tuesday, the sea is only about six to seven meters (23 feet) deep.
Older residents of the coastal town recalled an earthquake in 1968 produced an island that stayed for one year and then vanished.
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