Floating island
A floating island is a natural or artificial structure that floats on the surface of the water and is not connected to the bottom of the water . Icebergs, pumice rafts, carpets of plants or heaps of bitumen come from natural genesis. Artificial floating islands are also known as pontoon .
Floating islands are not land masses and therefore not real islands .
Floating islands can be several hundred meters long. From time to time they are on large streams (which like Amazon ) or lakes to find. In the case of larger floating islands that have existed for a longer period of time, vegetation can also occur, including small trees. A floating island is moved by the wind or the current.
Large fragments of the ice edge in the Arctic and Antarctic can also reach island dimensions.
Emergence
Several things can contribute to the creation of floating islands. Some were once part of the shore and, mostly after natural disasters, loosened and were washed away. Larger fragments may have retained their vegetation and have bushes or trees. Others also arise from the growing interweaving of plant material. In areas near the equator, a floating island can consist of clusters of broken corals . These can also reach a considerable size, but are not very stable and generally do not have any growth. At the time of sailing, the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean , east of Florida and south of the Bermuda Islands, was often mistaken for floating islands by superstitious sailors and decorated with eerie stories. A plant cover that grows over the bank onto the surface of the water is known as vibrating lawn .
Swimming
So that an island floats without a boat-shaped arch, i.e. protrudes above the water level, the part that is submerged in the water must provide the buoyancy according to Archimedes for the total weight of the island. Their average density must therefore be significantly lower than that of water ( ρ = 1 g / cm³), which is hardly or no longer the case with soaked wood. In addition to wood, floating islands often consist of hollow parts of plants such as stalks of reed or bladderwrack. Swamp gas caught in the felt or other material sometimes also provides the necessary buoyancy.
The centimeter-sized floating islands, such as those formed by mold on fruit juices as mold lawns, are based on a completely different principle . In this size range, the surface tension of the water dominates the buoyancy. If the edge of the stain is hydrophobic , it will not be wetted, but will only dent the surface of the liquid. - Mud flakes the size of the palm of your hand with digester gas bubbles can float up in tilted bathing lakes and ponds.
mythology
In Greek mythology , Delos was originally a floating island. At Hera's request , Leto was not allowed to give birth on the mainland and therefore gave birth to her children Apollon and Artemis on Ortygia (later “Delos”). Out of gratitude, Zeus (the children's father) made the island the (geographical) center of Greece.
The floating island of Aiolia is the home of the Greek wind god Aiolos in Homer's Odyssey .
Examples of artificial floating islands
Urus
Artificial floating islands woven from Totora reeds can be found in Peru on Lake Titicaca . Their (former) inhabitants are called Urus . Originally, the islands were created at times when the inhabitants still had to protect themselves from their warlike neighbors, the Incas and Kollas . The indigenous people still speak the ancient languages Quechua and Aymara . The floating islands have become a tourist destination and you can stay overnight on them.
Spiral Island
Richart "Rishie" Sowa , a musician, artist and carpenter, constructed floating islands near Cancún , the floating bodies of which consist of nets filled with around 250,000 empty plastic bottles. Spiral Island was formed near Puerto Aventuras ( Mexico ) from 1998 to 2002 , but was thrown ashore by Hurricane Emily in 2005 . A follow-up project was implemented in the Laguna Makax on Isla Mujeres , east of Cancún.
New Atlantis
New Atlantis was a micronation on a 30 square meter raft around 15 kilometers off Jamaica near Bluefields . It was founded on July 4th, 1964 by Leicester Hemingway after he had taken possession of the raft for the USA , citing the Guano Islands Act . While he gave the northern half to the United States, he claimed the southern part for his newly established "state" New Atlantis. He declared himself its president, developed his own currency and issued his own postage stamps. However, he was unable to realize his plan to develop New Atlantis into a research center for oceanography. A few years after its founding, New Atlantis suffered the same fate as its mythical model; it sank in a storm. During the time of its existence, six residents regularly lived on New Atlantis.
Examples of natural floating islands
In the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve there are many floating islands (Plaur) . In fact, the true topography of the Delta, whether land or not, has not yet been adequately explored.
Hautsee
The floating island on the Thuringian Hautsee near Bad Salzungen / Dönges was probably created through silting processes and is the namesake of the lake.
Schollener See
In 1934 one of the floating islands in the Schollener See near Schollene (near the Elbe in Saxony-Anhalt ) was placed under protection as a natural monument .
Small Arbersee
In the Kleiner Arbersee , a lake in the Bavarian Forest at an altitude of 918 meters, there are three floating grass islands. Due to the damming of the lake as a result of wood drift , these islands have detached themselves from the shore as vegetation. Bog plants and small trees have settled on the 1.5 to 3.5 meter thick islands. In 1959 the lake and the islands were designated as a nature reserve.
Monster lake
The floating islands in the Ungeheuersee , a raised bog lake in the Rhine Palatinate near Bad Dürkheim, were designated as a natural monument together with the lake in the 1930s. The islands bear grasses, orchids and pines.
Princess hole
The Princess Hole belongs to the Ilmenau pond area in the Thuringian Forest . It was created by a sinkhole . A small island floats in the middle. The area is under nature protection and is a bird protection area.
Lützelsee, Barchetsee (Switzerland)
The small Lützelsee between Lake Zurich and Greifensee in the canton of Zurich is a dead lake and, along with the surrounding moorland, is under nature protection. The islands are created by plant stocks that detach from the shore. In addition, in Switzerland there are only floating islands in the Barchetsee near Neunforn , which consist of overgrown chunks of peat.
Floating islands in the media
literature
In 1895, Jules Verne made a huge artificial floating island called Standard Island the content and title of his novel L'Île à hélice ( Eng .: The Propeller Island ). The island described there is oval, 5 × 7 kilometers in size, runs on steam and electricity and houses the city of Milliard City and the surrounding landscape. In the novel, the Pacific Ocean is traveled with this mobile island , with the tensions between the aristocratic warriors discharged throughout the journey. In the end, the island sinks during a storm.
Previously, in La Jangada ( Die Jangada , 1881) , Verne had turned a village floating on a raft across the Amazon into the setting of a novel.
The writer James Krüss , who was born on the island of Heligoland , wrote the most extensive seaman's thread to date on floating islands in the book for young people, The Happy Islands behind the Wind . In 1945, the captain of a ship landed on nine floating islands floating around in the Mediterranean Sea and experiences incredible stories with his crew and various guests. Several chapters are devoted to each island with its strange inhabitants and buildings. The book was first published in 1958 by New Life in the GDR and then appeared in two volumes in the Oetinger Verlag also in the Federal Republic (1959/1960).
Michael Ende describes in the youth book Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver the search of the two heroes for a "supplementary island" for the "Lummerland" which has become too small. According to the advice of the dragon “Frau Malzahn” you will find a floating island which is called “New Lummerland” after mooring at the old home.
In his utopian short novel Die Gelehrten Republik (1957), Arno Schmidt describes the artificial island IRAS (International Republic of Artists and Scientists) floating in the horse's breadth , on which the world's geniuses should be able to carefree after a nuclear catastrophe.
In José Saramago's novel The Stone Raft (1986), the Iberian Peninsula separates from Europe and drifts through the ocean.
In the novel Shipwreck with Tiger , Yann Martel describes a plant-based, floating island that becomes a refuge for the castaways for a short time.
In different universes of fantasy literature, a type of floating island is also spoken of when it is floating in the air. Often no particular reason is given for the islands to be buoyant, although there is clearly a force of gravity. These very special shapes are usually simply called "floating islands" without further explanation, even if, strictly speaking, they are flying (or floating) islands.
There are floating islands in the computer games Project Nomads , Unreal , World of Warcraft , "Bioshock Infinite", Tomb Raider II and The Heart of Darkness as well as in the series Dragon Hunters .
Movie and TV
In Richard Fleischer's musical Doctor Dolittle (1967) , the animal-understanding doctor ( Rex Harrison ) is on the lookout for the large purple sea slug. He finds her on a floating island that once broke off from Africa and is eventually pushed back to its original location by whales. A tree that is divided lengthways is even put back together again to fit perfectly.
The cartoon series Oiski! Poiski! revolves around the floating island of the polar bear Noah, who drives you around the globe in search of the legendary island of Diamantina with the help of the island's own drive.
In the film adaptation of the above-mentioned novel, Life of Pi: Shipwreck with Tiger , Pi also temporarily lands on a floating island made of algae.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Barchetsee in the area of the Neunforn Nature and Bird Protection Association. (No longer available online.) In: Natur- und Vogelschutzverein Neunforn. Archived from the original on September 9, 2010 ; Retrieved October 11, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A current edition has been published by Carlsen-Verlag, again as a single book ( ISBN 3-551-55268-1 ).
