![Vanishing island diagram](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Vanishing_island_diagram.svg)
Vanishing island refers to any permanent island which is exposed at
low tide but is submersed at
high tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide tables c ...
. Vanishing islands occur globally. There are vanishing islands in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
and several in the
San Juan Islands
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...
.
In early times, seamen were confused by this phenomenon and invented explanations for it, usually involving a massive sea monster that would let a crew land on its back before submersing itself, drowning the crew. Notable examples of these include the
aspidochelone
According to the tradition of the '' Physiologus'' and medieval bestiaries, the aspidochelone is a fabled sea creature, variously described as a large whale or vast sea turtle, and a giant sea monster with huge spines on the ridge of its back. ...
,
Fastitocalon,
Jasconius,
Lyngbakr,
Hafgufa, and various accounts of the
kraken.
There is a vanishing island off the west coast of Samal Island in the Philippines.
See also
*
Tidal island
A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands, many of them have been sites of ...
References
Islands by type
Tides
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