Pléiades Measures Earthquake born Island in Pakistan

Barely half an hour after a major earthquake on 23rd September, people of the Pakistani coastal town of Gwadar had another jolt when they saw a new island emerge in the sea, just over a kilometre from the shore. This island is made of sea mud. The mud island was created due to decompression of the gas buried under the seabed. During the the time of the earthquake the mud roof cracks and allows large amount of gas to escape taking a large volume of mud with it. Experts say the island is unlikely to survive for a long time as sea will wash it over and the mud will gradually subside to sea floor.

Astrium’s Pleiades sensors which provide satellite imagery at 50 cm resolution have captured this island amazing detail. The new island has been measured using this latest accurate imagery. Following are its dimensions:

• Area: 22726 m²
• Length: 175.7 m
• Width: 160.9 m

                                                                           Pleiades image of ‘Zalzala Koh’ or Mountain made from Quake.
                                                                           Source: (c) CNES – Distribution Astrium Services / SPOT Image