A pumice raft is a floating raft of pumice occasionally created by ocean-based volcanic activity.

Volcanic activity in the South Pacific near Tonga on August 12, 2006 revealed the emergence of a new island. The crew of the Maiken, a yacht that left the northern Tongan islands group of Vava'u in August, reported that they saw streaks of light, porous pumice stone floating in the water -- then "sailed into a vast, many-miles-wide belt of densely packed pumice."^[1]

Pumice rafts drifted to Fiji in 1979 and 1984 from eruptions around Tonga, and some were reportedly 30 kilometers (19 miles) wide.

[edit] See also

• Floating island
• Home Reef
• Curacoa volcano

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• NASA Earth Observatory photo of and article about Tonga new island and pumice raft
• South China Sea Pumice

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