The Coolidge examiner., 1934-01-12
Prepared by National Geographic Society.
WarhlnRton. ID. C.-WNU Service.

reports. II is doubtful II any land
has been built up and cut down so
often within the recollection Of man
as has this island. Located in the
southeastern part OF the Tonge. or
Friendly group Of Islands in the
South Pacific. 1t has appeared, then
disappeared from sight at least
twice In October. 1927, an erup-
riOn occurred which raised II high
above the level OF the sea and
brought ii TO the attention OF men
the world over.
Since that time newspapers of
many countries have published ar
ticles concerning it's temperance.
Layas have been reported flowing
down its sides and great clouds OF
ash and steam rising several thou
sand feet above il.
The location of Falcon island Is
latitude 20 degrees 10 minutes S.
and longitude 175 degrees % min
utes w. II one could examine n
geological map of this general re-
giOn. he would find that all the vol
canic islands lie in a straight line
which runs in a north-northeast
and sOuth-southwest direction. Be
ginning with Mount Ruapehu. In
North Island. New Zealand. through
the Kermadec islands. continuing
through Alta (Pylstaart). Honga
Tonga. Falcon. Tofua, Kao. Metis,
Late. and Fanualai (Amargura),
the volcanic islands of Tonga, and
terminating In Samoa. this line in
cludes one of the greatest chains of
active and dormant volcanoes In
the world.
II represents a line of weakness
In the earth's crust and along II
from time to time molten material
is elected The world Is made
aware of these elections only when
the material reaches the surface
and forms islands or shoals.
II Is very probable. however. that
in many places along the line there |
are submarine volcanoes of whose |
existence no knowledge has ever
been obtained. II one were to pre-
dict where the next new island In
this part of the world would ap-
pear. it would be fairly safe to say
somewhere along this line Prac-
tically all the other islands of the
region are Of nOnvolcanic rock.
chiefly limestone.
Growth From a Shoal.
The island received its name
when Fl. ~ S. Falcon visited the
spot in 1865 and reported shoal.
Twelve years later II. NJ. S. Sappho
reported smoke to be issuing from
the sea at the same position. In
1885 submarine volcano burst
suddenly into activity and built up
mound which. after a year of in
termittent eruption, reached
height of at least 800 feet.
In 1889. FL. NJ S. Egeria visited
the island and Mr.. J. ]. Lister, an
English geologist on board, made
some careful observations. He
since its formation the action of
the sea had removed a large por-
tion Of the island, and that only
about third of the original mound
remained. He calculated the max
imum height of the island at that
time to be 153 feet.
Further observations were made
by the British admiralty in August.
1895. Falcon island extended 500
yards in a northeast-southwest di-
rection and 700 yards in a north
yest-southeast direction. 1t was
nearly circular in form and only
40 feet above water.
In July, 1898. II was reported to
have disappeared and its site was
occupied by shoal 100 yards In
extent on which the sea broke heav-
lily. Thus ii took the sea, the rain,
and the wind only 13 years to cause
an island with maximum diameter
of about two miles and a height of
800 feet to disappear completely.
There is popular misconception
that islands of this sort disappear
by actual sinking. Their disappear
ance. however, Is due solely to the
leveling action of the agents of
erosion. Two years later. the shoal
TO which Falcon island had been re-
duced was showing about ten feet
above the water at the northern
end-prObably the result of wave
action which concentrated the ma
terial to leeward In this condi-
tion it was subsequently piled
above sea level by the southeast
trade winds.
Called New place" by Natives.
In 1913, H. NJ. s. COrmoran re-
ported that the island had diSap-
peared once more. Finally tho most
violent eruption on record occurred
in October. 1927. From that time
until the present, minor eruptionS.
separated by periods of quiescence.
have added slightly to the size of
the mound.
The native name for FalcOA is
land is Fnnua Foo (New Place. 1t
lies about fifty miles to the north