WLW: UC geologist explains giant floating rock in Pacific
Thomas Algeo tells "Eddie and Rocky" the pumice island will disappear over time
"Eddie and Rocky" on 700-WLW spoke to University of Cincinnati geologist Thomas Algeo about the discovery this month of a giant island of rock floating in the Pacific Ocean off Australia.
A couple sailing in the South Pacific reported finding an island of pumice the size of Manhattan floating off Tonga, according to CNN.
UC geologist Thomas Algeo. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services
Algeo, a professor of geology in UC's McMicken College of Art and Sciences, said the island was formed from a volcanic eruption deep underwater.
"The rock floats because it's full of air bubbles," Algeo told show hosts Eddie Fingers and Rocky Boiman. "The air bubbles form in the lava. A pumice rock can consist of up to 90 percent air bubbles. That allows it to float. It's actually less dense than water."
News accounts suggested the pumice island could help the imperiled Great Barrier Reef. But Algeo said any benefits would be short lived.
"It might have a very positive short-term influence," he said. "A lot of marine organisms can latch onto these pumice fragments. You might repopulate some corals in the Great Barrier Reef from pumice floating in. But the main stresses on the Great Barrier Reef are much greater than that."
Algeo said half of the reef has died because of recent warming of ocean currents.
As for the pumice island? Algeo said once the gas escapes from the rock, the pumice eventually will sink to the ocean floor.
Featured image at top: Lava from an eruption pours into the ocean. Photo/Buzz Andersen/Unsplash
Related Stories
Fusion reactors may be key to uncovering dark matter
December 22, 2025
Yahoo! News highlights a new study by University of Cincinnati physicist Jure Zupan that explains how fusion reactors might create subatomic particles associated with dark matter.
UC public relations course reaches vulnerable community
December 19, 2025
Rather than having students find opportunities for real world applications of their degrees beyond class, why not bring it to them in the classroom? The public relations campaigns class, offered through the communications department in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences, gives students a taste of experience in the field.
Bazinga! UC physicist cracks ‘Big Bang Theory’ problem
December 19, 2025
A physicist at the University of Cincinnati and his colleagues figured out something two of America’s most famous fictional physicists couldn’t: theoretically how to produce subatomic particles called axions in fusion reactors.