On a tiny island between Madagascar and the east coast of Africa, scientists have discovered a mother lode of rocks that shouldn’t be there. The island is made from igneous, volcanic rock that hails from the oceanic crust. But the mystery rocks come from continental crust — more specifically, from a river delta or beach. “It doesn’t look like anything that could have formed on an island like that,” said Cornelia Class, a geochemist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. [ See Images of the Odd Rocks on This African Island ] Funded by a National Geographic Society grant, Class recently led a scientific expedition to the island, guided by scattered reports of the light, sandy rock, which is known as quartzite. She and her colleagues found that the mystery is larger than they realized. In fact, it makes up half of a mountain. Volcanic outpost Anjouan island is one of the Comoro Islands. It’s a rugged, 163-square-mile (424 square kilometers) outpost in the Indian Ocean, rich in vegetation and home to around 277,000 people. Anjouan formed much like the Hawaiian Islands . It consists of the remains of a shield volcano, which spewed and oozed lava that… Read full this story
- Volcanic island wants to host your data
- What happened on Easter Island? New theory proposed
- 60-Million-Year-Old Meteor Strike Uncovered on Remote Isle of Skye
- Every Movie Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Has Made, From Best to Worst
- Unlikely Duo Teams Up for 'One Strange Rock': Q&A with Chris Hadfield and Darren Aronofsky
- What is lava haze? A look at Hawaii’s latest volcanic hazard
- Krakatoa eruption – At least 168 dead and 745 injured after tsunami batters Indonesian coast following volcanic explosion
- We all need a little hug: Skates found to warm their eggs near deep-sea volcanic vents
- Researchers Find New Type of Volcanic Eruption on Jupiter's Moon Io
- The Impossible Trail
'Impossible' Rocks Found on Remote Volcanic Island have 303 words, post on www.livescience.com at March 18, 2019. This is cached page on NGHONG. If you want remove this page, please contact us.