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Summary A NASA image captures a new island formation created by a volcanic eruption in the Red Sea.
A volcanic eruption in the Red Sea has caused the formation of a new island, NASA announced on Friday.The volcanic activity began on December 19 along the Zubair Group, a group off small islands to the west of Yemens coast. News reports say that fishermen in the area reported seeing huge lava fountains up to 30 meters (90 feet) in height.By December 23, NASA satellite imagery had shown the new island in a location which had previously been shown as having an unbroken water surface.A thick plume of smoke at the location is thought to be a mixture of volcanic ash and water vapor, NASA said in a statement.The region is part of the Red Sea Rift, where the African and Arabian tectonic plates diverge and where new ocean crust is created on a regular basis.
