An enormous mass of floating rocks surprised some navigators: "The sea was almost completely calm"

A floating mbad of rocks surrounds a boat. The extension is such that it is lost sight of at the horizon. The image, shared by scientists on social networks, shows the huge amount of volcanic stones They float adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

"The waves have dropped so much that the sea was almost completely calmand the ship slowed down at a knot (volcanic rock mbad), "wrote Michael Hoult and Larissa Brill on Facebook.

The couple said that it was temporarily stuck when the rocks blocked the bar, but eventually they were able to navigate outside the area. Surprised by the discovery, they describe the situation: "The mbad of stones reached as far as the eye can see under the light of the Moon and our reflector".

Scientists took the opportunity to take samples of these pumice stones of varying sizes to send to researchers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia.

According to specialists, this "raft" would probably come from eruption on August 7th of a submarine volcano near Tonga, an island country of Polynesia.

The pumice It occurs when the volcanic magma cools rapidly. The result of this process is a light rock filled with air bubbles that can float on the water.

The satellite images show that the "raft" is moving towards the Great Barrier Reef in Australia In this regard, Dr. Martin Jutzeler, from the University of Tasmania, explained why this was good news: "Much of life can cling to pumice and be transported on thousands of kilometers. renewal of the ecosystem in some parts However, he warned: "It can also introduce invasive species".

For his part, Scott Bryan, an badociate professor of geology at Queensland University of Technology, said, "It's a way for young and healthy corals to quickly enter the Great Barrier Reef."

"We will see millions of individual corals and many other agencies, all of which have the potential to find new housing along our coasts, "said Bryan, after explaining that these mbades could be seen about every five years in the region.

"It may seem that the entire surface of the ocean would have become earth. This is a phenomenon that has already been reported, like islands in the middle of the ocean that people meet but can not find, "he explained to the BBC.

In addition, he added: "At this time There are more than one trillion pieces pumice stone floating together, but over time, they will separate and disperse throughout the region. "