Below is a list of new islands created since the beginning of the 20th century by

volcanism Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. It is caused by the presence of a he ...

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

glacial retreat The retreat of glaciers since 1850 is a well-documented effect of climate change. The retreat of mountain glaciers provides evidence for the rise in global temperatures since the late 19th century. Examples include mountain glaciers in western ...

, or other mechanisms. One of the most famous new volcanic islands is the small island of

Surtsey Surtsey ("Surtr's island" in Icelandic, ) is an uninhabited volcanic island located in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago off the southern coast of Iceland. At Surtsey is the southernmost point of Iceland. It was formed in a volcanic eruption whi ...

, located in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

south of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. It first emerged from the ocean surface in 1963. Two years later, Surtsey was declared a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

for the study of

ecological succession Ecological succession is the process of how species compositions change in an Community (ecology), ecological community over time. The two main categories of ecological succession are primary succession and secondary succession. Primary successi ...

; plants, insects, birds, seals, and other forms of life have since established themselves on the island. Another noted new island is

Anak Krakatau Anak KrakatauEnglish translation and common name: ''Child of Krakatoa'' is a volcanic island in Indonesia. On 29 December 1927, Anak Krakatau first emerged from the caldera formed in 1883 by the explosive volcanic eruption that destroyed the ...

(the so-called "child of

Krakatoa Krakatoa (), also transcribed (), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group (Krakatoa archipelago) comprising four islands. Tw ...

", which formed in the flooded

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

of that notorious volcano in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

), which emerged only in 1930. Ample rainforests have grown there, although they are often destroyed by frequent eruptions. A population of many wild animals, including insects, birds, humanborne rats, and even monitor lizards, have also settled there.

Didicas Volcano Didicas Volcano is an active volcanic island in the province of Cagayan in northern Philippines. The island, which was a submarine volcano and re-emerged from the sea in 1952, is NE of Camiguin Island, one of the Babuyan Islands in Luzon Stra ...

off the northern coast of

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

Island in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, was first created during a four-year eruption from 1856 to 1860 but eventually got washed away. In 1900, three tall rock masses were left by another eruption. During the 1952 eruption, the island finally became permanent which was further bolstered by subsequent eruptions in 1969 and 1978 into a -high island.

Uunartoq Qeqertoq Uunartoq Qeqertaq (Greenlandic language, Greenlandic), Warming Island in English, is an island off the east central coast of Greenland, north of the Arctic Circle. It became recognised as an island only in September 2005, by US explorer Dennis S ...

is an island off the east coast of

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

that appeared to have split from the mainland because of

between 2002 and 2005; however, it is believed to have been a true island, with or without glacial covering, for many thousands of years. In February and March 2009, a vigorous eruption created a new island near

Hunga Ha'apai ''Hunga'' is a genus of plants in the family Chrysobalanaceae described by British botanist Ghillean Prance in 1979. Species in this genus are native to New Guinea and New Caledonia. Species This genus includes the following species: *''Hunga c ...

in the

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

n Islands of the southwest

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

. By the end of the activity, however, the new land mass was connected to Hunga Ha'apai. Similar activity occurred again in December 2014 and January 2015. The island has been re-separated after most of the mass of Hunga Ha'apai was destroyed during the massive 2022 eruption. In December 2011, an island was formed in the

Zubair Group Zubair Group, Al Zubair Group or Zubayr Group (, or simply: ) is a group of 10 major volcanic islands, on top of an underlying shield volcano in the Red Sea, which reach a height of above sea level. The volcano has continued to erupt in histori ...

as a result of volcanic activity but got eroded away in February 2015. Another island which surfaced formed in September 2013 which was named Jadid Island, where as the one the formed in 2011 was named Sholan Island. On September 24, 2013 a new island named

Zalzala Koh Zalzala Koh (, ''Earthquake Mountain'') or Zalzala Jazeera (, ''Earthquake Island'') was a small island off the coast of the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan province of Pakistan which appeared on 24 September 2013 just hours after a powerful ...

emerged off the coast of

Gwadar Gwadar (, ) is a Port, port city on the southwestern coast of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea, opposite Oman and has a populati ...

, as a result of a strong earthquake that hit south and southwest Pakistan measuring 7.8 on the Richter magnitude scale. On November 21, 2013 an unnamed islet emerged off the coast of Nishinoshima, a small, uninhabited island in the Ogasawara chain, which is also known as the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a list of islands of Japan, Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and Island#Tropical islands, tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total ...

. Less than four days after the new islet's emergence, it was about in diameter. In November 2023, a new island formed as a result of volcanic activity off the coast of

Iwo Jima is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands, which lie south of the Bonin Islands and together with them make up the Ogasawara Subprefecture, Ogasawara Archipelago. Together with the Izu Islands, they make up Japan's Nanpō Islands. Although sout ...

, reaching a diameter of 100 meters.

List of recently created islands

This is a list of new islands that formed during the 20th and the 21st centuries. Of those formed by

submarine volcanoes Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...

, only Anak Krakatau and Surtsey are currently islands, and Surtsey is the only one that is expected to survive, Ilha Nova is now connected to Faial Island. Newly created landmass adjacent to Nishinoshima is now connected to Nishinoshima.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Islands, List Of

Islands This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water, and by other classifications. For rank-order lists, see the #Other lists of islands, other lists of islands below. Lists of islands by count ...

Lists of islands Submarine volcanoes Volcanism

List of recently created islands

See also

References