The island that 'grew back': Pacific isle that disappeared after devastating typhoon reappears 100 years after its destruction

[Yvonne Lawson]

In 1905 a devastating typhoon swept over the  Nadikdik atoll in the middle of the Pacific ocean, killing the majority of  inhabitants and washing away most of the island.

Just two people survived the storm, but just  over a century on, the islands have ‘grown back’ from a sandy deposit to lush  reef islands.

Now, researchers from New Zealand have  studied the reformation of the atoll, which is part of the remote Marshall  Islands, to show how islands can form in relatively short periods of  time.

A University of Auckland study published in the  journal Geomorphology documented the changes that have occurred in the Nadikdik  atoll, also known as the Knox atoll, since the terrible typhoon, where large  sections of reef were decimated.

Dr Murray Ford and Professor Paul Kench  studied aerial images of the islands from 1945 up until 2010 and found that a  new island has grown from remains, The New Zealand Herald  reported.

In just over 60 years the island has grown  lush vegetation and by studying the aerial photographs they found that patches  of vegetation on the once barren landmass have grown by almost 25 per cent, the NZCity website reported.

The Nadikidik atoll has grown up from a  ruined deposit of sandy and coral into a collection of islands including a fully  vegetated and stable landmass as well another larger island composed of once  separates smaller islands.

The researchers think this rapid regeneration  was made possible because the sea around the sandy deposits was so  healthy.

‘The storm obviously generated huge amounts  of sediment and threw up large amounts of coral on to the islands, which has  helped them to re-organise themselves,’ the scientists said.

Nadikdik Atoll (pictured) - otherwise known as Knox Atoll - is an uninhabited  coral atoll of 18 islands in the Pacific Ocean

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2564730/The-island-g...

 

ZetaTalk on the Marshall Islands : http://www.zetatalk.com/info/tinfx311.htm 

There is likewise a portion of the Pacific Plate pushing under Japan and forcing
the Philippine Plate to dive under Indonesia. This is tipping this part
of the Pacific Plate so that the Marshall Islands and parts to the southwest of
those islands are rising.

and http://www.zetatalk.com/newsletr/issue355.htm

 

The Zetas have described the great Pacific Plate as actually being four plates.

ZetaTalk Explanation 11/20/2010: We
addressed the fact that the Pacific plate is not one plate, as assumed. In fact,
it is at least four plates. The rise and incident of islands from Kamchatka to
Hawaii to the Society Islands shows this to be a plate boundary, down the center
of the Pacific. Call that land to the east of this plate boundary the East
Pacific Plate. There is also a triangle of a plate between the points of Hawaii,
West Samoa, and the Society Islands. Call this the West Pacific Plate. Below the
Society Islands is a plate which could be called the South Pacific Plate. And
the portion of the Pacific Plate pushing under Japan and pushing under the
Philippine Plate could be called the North Pacific Plate.

The East
Pacific Plate is subducting under N America but rising along the island chain
which includes Hawaii and the Society Islands.

ZetaTalk Explanation 6/12/2010: Hawaii, which rides higher after every major
adjustment in the area, is rising, and this can only be the case if there is
subduction of a plate somewhere, pushing the plate that Hawaii rides on up. The
Society Island are on a chain that forms a line with the Hawaii Islands, and
such a rise is not a coincidence. This is also a fault line, where a plate that
is subducting under the Americas is rising commensurately along these island
chains. There is a fault line running from Kamchatka to the Society Islands, and
both will rise during the pole shift.

The West Pacific Plate is
subducting under the rising eastern edge of the Indo-Australian Plate, and
sliding under the western edge of the East Pacific Plate – an overall loser in
the plate movement game.

ZetaTalk
Explanation 1/15/2011: The
islands at the plate borders in this region do not do well during the plate
adjustments to come. The primary devastation will come during the hour of the
pole shift, but the devastation has started during the 7 of 10 adjustments.
Samoa rides on the Pacific Plate, which is pushing under the eastern edge of the
Indo-Australian Plate, and as this process continues and accelerates,
approaching the pole shift, will virtually disappear. The Solomon Islands do not
fare much better, for the same reasons. Tonga and New Caledonia ride high. The
little Fiji Plate, as the recent sinking indicates, will be a loser, pushed down
into the notch as the Pacific Plate presses ever westward.

The
North Pacific Plate is subducting under Japan and the Philippine Plate, and as
the East Pacific Plate is riding over it to the east, this plate is overall
being pushed down. But the push down is not even, as the portion being pushed
under Japan and the Philippine Plate tips this North Pacific Plate, allowing the
eastern part of this plate to tip up.

ZetaTalk Explanation 6/12/2010: There is likewise a portion of the Pacific Plate
pushing under Japan and forcing the Philippine Plate to dive under Indonesia.
This is tipping this part of the Pacific Plate so that the Marshall Islands and
parts to the southwest of those islands are rising. These islands will benefit
from the pole shift, though will not gain the altitude that West Samoa will.


This tipping causes the Marshall Islands and to the southwest of
the Marshall Islands to rise during the hour of the Pole Shift, but during the 7
of 10 plate movements, whereby the Philippine and Mariana Plates are being
tilted and folded, there is resistance. Thus in steps and stages, the North
Pacific Plate may temporarily be simply pushed down, without the tilt that will
ultimately benefit the Marshall Islands.