Science Item of the Day: Island Lifts 10 Feet Out of Ocean

They're making new land down in Ranongga. Sometimes, it's easy to forget how powerful tectonic activity is, because it usually happens at geological time scales. But this is amazing:

The seismic jolt that unleashed the deadly Solomons tsunami this week lifted an entire island metres out of the sea, destroying some of the world's most pristine coral reefs.
In an instant, the grinding of the Earth's tectonic plates in the 8.0 magnitude earthquake Monday forced the island of Ranongga up three metres (10 foot).

Shame about the coral reefs, really. But they'll grow back over the next thousand years or so. That is, assuming the ocean temperatures don't rise so much that we kill off all but the most tough and temperature-hardened coral species. The bleaching that is going on around the world right now makes this seismic death look like a splinter in the toe.