The Vanished Island

People on the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific tell stories of Teonimanu, the island that disappeared. Rapuanate had taken a woman from the island to be his wife, but her brother took her back. So Rapuanate turned to sorcery in revenge. He was given three taro plants, two to plant on Teonimanu and one to keep. When new leaves sprouted on his plant, it was a sign that the island was about to sink. People had notice to flee the island, though—it became salty as the ocean water rose. They fled on boats, rafts or clinging to trees that were washed off the land.

Science: Lark Shoal sits at the eastern edge of the Solomon Islands, part of a ridge that flanks the 5,000-meter-deep Cape Johnson Trench. An earthquake could have sparked a landslide that let the island slide into the trench, Nunn says. Underwater maps have revealed several islands submerged under hundreds of meters of water. Islands have probably been sinking in this region for a million years.