Zalzala Koh (Earthquake Mountain) or Zalzala Jazeera (Earthquake Island) is a small island off the coast of the port city of Gwadar, Balochistan, Pakistan which appeared on 24 September 2013 following an earthquake. As predicted by many geologists, the island has started to submerge, with satellite images indicating the island has sunk 10 feet into the sea since its initial appearance.
The island is visible from Pakistan's coastline and is about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the shore, with a height of 15 to 20 metres (60 to 70 feet), a length of 175.7 m, width of 160.9 m, and a surface of 22 726 sq.m (measured from satellite Pleiades). These figures are still debated, though.
Satellite images of the mysterious island that rose up from the sea last week reveal that it is round, with cracks and remarkably flat, similar to a 'mud pie'.
The island, named Zalzala Koh, emerged after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck 145 miles southeast of Dalbandin in Pakistan's quake-prone province of Baluchistan.
It has become an attraction for tourists and locals who have visited the area despite toxic, flammable gas being emitted from its cracks.
The Island is one of the most popular tourist destinations.
The surface is covered in sea creatures such as dead fish and is a mixture of mud, sand and rock.
Richard Luckett a seismologist at the British Geological Survey said that these mud volcanoes are relatively common in this area on both land and at sea.
‘They occur where there is a reservoir of loosely compacted sediments buried beneath harder, denser rock and a path is made to the surface,’ he told MailOnline.
Both boat and helicopter transfers are available from Agatti to Bangaram and Kadmat. The helicopter (US$350return) may be the only option in monsoon season from May to September.
By boats/ferries: These can be used for getting around from one island to the other
Once on an island, there aren't too many options. You can travel by foot or hire a bicycle.
‘There is a subducting plate boundary in this region where the Arabian plate is converging on the Eurasian plate at about 2cm a year and being pushed beneath it.
‘This is the same plate boundary responsible for the magnitude 7.7 earthquake.’
Scientists believe gases associated with the melting at the plate boundary contribute to heating the mud in the reservoirs and making it more fluid.
‘Certainly mud volcanoes are most common near this type of plate boundary, such as in Japan,’ said Dr Luckett.
There are basic leisure tours and Sea/Lagoon based tours. There are plenty of opportunities for Scuba diving, Yachting, Pedal boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Swimming, Snorkeling and sunbathing is a punishable crime.
Such land masses have appeared before off Pakistan's Makran coast, said Muhammed Arshad, a hydrographer with the navy. After quakes in 1999 and 2010, new land masses rose up along a different part of the coast about 282 kilometers (175 miles) east of Gwadar, he said.
He said each of those disappeared back into the sea within a year during the monsoon season, a period of heavy rain and wind that sweeps Pakistan every summer. He said that in the area where the island was created on Tuesday, the sea is only about six to seven meters (23 feet) deep.
