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Floating Islands (Tussocks; Floatons; Suds)

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Mystery surrounds Argentina's rotating island

Posted on Wednesday, 31 August, 2016 |
news-the-eye.jpg
A satellite image of the lake and its mysterious island. Image Credit: Google Earth
A peculiar circular island nicknamed 'The Eye' has managed to draw a lot of attention in recent weeks.
Situated in the delta of the Parana River near Buenos Aires, this unusual-looking island gives the appearance of floating within a tiny circular lake that is itself only around 120 meters across.

It was discovered by filmmakers working on the pre-production of a new horror movie in the area which is based on real-life accounts of UFOs, ghosts and other paranormal encounters.

The team reached the island after spending eight hours battling their way through the swamps.

"The place was amazing and extremely strange," said filmmaker Sergio Neuspiller. "We discovered that the water is incredibly clear and cold, something totally unusual in the area."

"The bottom is hard, in contrast to the swampy marshes surrounding it. The center parts floats. We don't know over what, but it floats."

The team has since launched a Kickstarter campaign in an effort to investigate the mystery further.

"Basically we have an external perimeter that is constant in time, and it's almost circular, in a flood plain... where things normally change and are muddy," said researcher Pablo Suarez.

"What is going on and why, and what gave origin to this unusual feature ?" - See more at:
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.co...gentinas-rotating-island#sthash.sad6gxoq.dpuf

Coordinates on Google Earth:
Latitude: 34°15'6.58"S
Longitude: 58°49'46.95"W
 
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Floating islands composed of vegetation (and / or vegetation debris) are well-known in that region (including the Parana River) under the name camalotes. My first guess is that this is a camalote.

This 2015 draft manuscript on Google Books:

https://books.google.com/books?id=e...a island floats OR float OR floating&f=false

... discusses them, and even quotes a description of them from a 1905 study.

They're also mentioned in this 2007 limnology text focused on the Parana River:

https://books.google.com/books?id=h...a island floats OR float OR floating&f=false

IMHO the circular basin or 'lake' that this one occupies may be the more interesting feature. I don't think I've ever run across a description of such floating objects that mentioned one being so tightly enclosed as this one. Camalotes move with floods, which would suggest the circular basin was already there to 'trap' this particular specimen as the waters receded.
 
I wonder if its process of formation was similar to that of ice circles?
The floating island of vegetable matter is probably constantly rotated by water currents, and this rotation of the island against the enclosing land smooths off the edges.
 
Underground water must flow through the pond in some way which makes the water rotate. Particles in the water is getting stuck to the "island". Sooner or later there will be no pond visible because the "island" is growing in size.
 
Llyn-y-Dywarchen

This is a privately owned lake beside the B4418 which has a rather complex shape and a small island in the centre, which is not uncommon in highly glaciated areas. There is a curious story attached to this lake. Once upon a time Llyn-y-Dywarchen had an additional floating island. Giraldus Cambrensis in 1188 told of the lake ‘having a floating island in it which is driven from one side to the other by the force of the wind’. His explanation at that time was perfectly rational. ‘A part of the bank naturally bound together by the roots of willows and other shrubs may have broken off and being continually agitated by the winds....it cannot reunite itself firmly with the banks.’

The astronomer and scientist Edmund Halley swam out to the island in 1698 to verify that it did indeed float.

Thomas Pennant in 1784 claimed to have seen the island and confirmed that cattle which strayed upon it when it was near the shore were occasionally marooned when it began to move.

The island is no longer there, and its legend has died....unless another knotted clump of the bank detaches itself and floats around in the future.

link:

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/wales/gwynedd/other-mysteries/llyn-y-dywarchen.html
 
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It was discovered by filmmakers working on the pre-production of a new horror movie in the area which is based on real-life accounts of UFOs, ghosts and other paranormal encounters.

Unfortunately but inevitably that must increase skepticism of anything mysterious that they report on. The circulation of an interesting-sounding tale of a floating island clearly provides some room for advancing their marketing efforts.

That said, it sounds intriguing, the map picture looks striking and I'm learning new stuff from the thread. So - promotional effort or not - that's pretty neat.
 
An island in a river has loosened and is now threatening to stop the river from flowing downstream.

fantastic! well, not for people who are directly involved, but just the idea! :clap:
 

definitely

If anyone can explain to me about the "funnels", seen at two sites and caused by the bad boys..... they just make me amused :huh:
 
A list of such floating islands is included in the Wikipedia article about them ...

A floating island is a mass of floating aquatic plants, mud, and peat ranging in thickness from several centimeters to a few meters. Floating islands are a common natural phenomenon that are found in many parts of the world. They exist less commonly as an artificial phenomenon. Floating islands are generally found on marshlands, lakes, and similar wetland locations, and can be many hectares in size. ...

Sometimes referred to as tussocks, floatons, or suds, natural floating islands are composed of vegetation growing on a buoyant mat of plant roots or other organic detritus. Some cenotes in northern Mexico have natural floating islands. ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_island
 
Here's a new floating island discovered in Muskegon Lake (Michigan) ...

FloatingIsle-MuskegonLake.jpg

'This one is bizarre': High water, erosion create floating island in Muskegon Lake

If the owner of a missing chunk of shoreline would like to reclaim it, it's presently moving about Muskegon Lake as a floating island.

The chunk of grasses and other vegetation was spotted by boaters and those along the shoreline Thursday. It’s almost certainly the result of record-high water levels and resulting shoreline erosion.

While the phenomenon isn't incredibly rare, this is a big one. Norton Shores photographer Joe Gee shot a video of the floating island Thursday using an aerial drone, and it shows a pontoon boat circling it looking small by comparison. ...

Alan D. Steinman, director of the Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University, was perplexed after seeing Gee's video.

"We have had (floating islands) in the past, but they tend to be much smaller, cattails that break off from a coastal wetland," he said. "This one is bizarre."

The plants look like they might not even be typical shoreline vegetation such as reeds, "which is really strange," he said.

High water levels and erosion would have caused it, Steinman said. ...

But adding further mystery, Steinman said the floating island doesn't look like any piece of Muskegon Lake shoreline he's familiar with — "and I know the vegetation along this shoreline," he said.

Water moves every which way in Muskegon Lake, both out to adjacent Lake Michigan from currents along the lake bottom and from Lake Michigan into Muskegon Lake at the upper part of the water column from prevailing westerly winds, Steinman said.

That opens up the remote possibility that the island floated into Muskegon Lake from somewhere else along the Michigan shoreline, or even from across Lake Michigan, he said. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.freep.com/story/news/lo...sland-meandering-in-muskegon-lake/3223308001/
 
Funnily enough, after watching The Life of Pi recently, I searched for info about floating islands and nothing much came up.
I'm pleased to see there are such things.
 
El Ojo (The Eye) is a perfectly circular, floating island in the delta of the Parana river, between Buenos Aires and Campana, in Argentina.
It rotates around its own axis, giving the impression of an eye looking around.

The phenomenon can be observed through the Google Earth satellite images taken at different times, by typing "El Ojo" at coordinates: 34 ° 15'07.8 ? S 58 ° 49'47.4 ? W.

eye1.png
eye2.png


https://mybestplace.com/en/article/the-eye-the-mysterious-rotating-island-in-argentina
 
El Ojo (The Eye) is a perfectly circular, floating island in the delta of the Parana river, between Buenos Aires and Campana, in Argentina.
It rotates around its own axis, giving the impression of an eye looking around.

The phenomenon can be observed through the Google Earth satellite images taken at different times, by typing "El Ojo" at coordinates: 34 ° 15'07.8 ? S 58 ° 49'47.4 ? W.

View attachment 58940View attachment 58941

https://mybestplace.com/en/article/the-eye-the-mysterious-rotating-island-in-argentina
According to this website (in Spanish) the locals don't like to go near it, because it is believed to be the home of a deity, and the film director who claimed to have discovered the island said that the area generates reports of entity encounters.
 
According to this website (in Spanish) the locals don't like to go near it, because it is believed to be the home of a deity, and the film director who claimed to have discovered the island said that the area generates reports of entity encounters.
Quite frankly if you've got an oddity like this in your vicinity and it doesn't have at least half a dozen 'haunted' stories about it, are you even doing your job as a nation?
 
El Ojo (The Eye) is a perfectly circular, floating island in the delta of the Parana river, between Buenos Aires and Campana, in Argentina.
It rotates around its own axis, giving the impression of an eye looking around.

The phenomenon can be observed through the Google Earth satellite images taken at different times, by typing "El Ojo" at coordinates: 34 ° 15'07.8 ? S 58 ° 49'47.4 ? W.

View attachment 58940View attachment 58941

https://mybestplace.com/en/article/the-eye-the-mysterious-rotating-island-in-argentina


For more about El Ojo and similar floating island features see:

Floating Islands (Tussocks; Floatons; Suds)
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/floating-islands-tussocks-floatons-suds.61651/
After studying the above images for a while, I think I might possibly have a-bit-of-a-clue as to what could possibly be the force behind what's forming the circular image.
*Blue arrows = the variable wind directions:
*Yellow arrows = the low clump of vegetation which might well be acting like a windvane, catching the wind like a lever and slowly turning the 'Island' so forming the circle as the wind changes its direction?
Maybe a similar kind of action as to what might be affecting/causing the Ice-
Circles?
1669054025850.png
 
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