[headdie]

definitely blotted out

[attachment deleted by a basterd]

[Nuke]

The OP mentions that this particular island has been featured proudly on printed maps and marine charts for over a decade, and probably a lot longer.

The odds of this being an image error are slim to none.

you know computers existed over a decade ago. i dont exactly remember playing freespace 1 on an abacus.

[Scotty]

Irrelevent.  It would take one hell of an image error (we're talking fifty miles at least from the nearest landmass, and a hundred to the next nearest) for that to be the actual explanation for it.

[Nuke]

fifty miles in the real world, a couple pixels on a massive zoomed out photoshop document (we had photoshop back then).

[wistler]

Where's that island gone!? Im freaking out!

[Legate Damar]

It has been on maps since the 1700s.

Foolish humans.

[Flipside]

Never sneeze on a Microfiche

[Dragon]

It has been on maps since the 1700s.

Since 1700s? That could explain it. An island that was charted in 1700, was left alone, sunk during that time (happens on a regular basis), and nobody noticed until now because there was nothing interesting in there. 300 years should be enough for it to sink pretty deep. In places where it had any meaning, the error was corrected (nav charts and French Govt. maps), but where it hadn't, it persisted.

[The E]

Explain please the mechanism by which an Island can sink 1400 meters in 300 years without massive geological disruptions.

[FireSpawn]

Explain please the mechanism by which an Island can sink 1400 meters in 300 years without massive geological disruptions.

 

But seriously, I'm curious too.

[Flipside]

Actually, the problem has only existed for around decade according to the BBC Report :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20442487

I think the possibility that these were stored on some kind of Microfilm system is quite high, and damage to the material would explain the mark.

[An4ximandros]

I don't think that the island sank, I think the island lifted off!

[yuezhi]

Explain please the mechanism by which an Island can sink 1400 meters in 300 years without massive geological disruptions.

 

But seriously, I'm curious too.

great another trekkie

[NGTM-1R]

Explain please the mechanism by which an Island can sink 1400 meters in 300 years without massive geological disruptions.

I would point out there have been some massive geological disruptions in that region during that time.

[Ghostavo]

I don't think that the island sank, I think the island lifted off!

Angel Island has been found lost!

[watsisname]

Explain please the mechanism by which an Island can sink 1400 meters in 300 years without massive geological disruptions.

I would point out there have been some massive geological disruptions in that region during that time.

Disruptions that would remove all trace of an island down to over a kilometer of depth under water?  That must have been a remarkable event indeed!  Even the eruption of Krakatau did not come anywhere close to achieving such a feat.  Nor am I aware of any geologic process that could do so in such a short time, not without leaving some very profound evidence behind.  In which case, where is it?

[Trivial Psychic]

It was a poorly-executed attempt by Annorax to obliterate the island from existence with his Temporal disruptor weapon.  The island was erased, but photographic evidence of it somehow survived.

[NGTM-1R]

Disruptions that would remove all trace of an island down to over a kilometer of depth under water?  That must have been a remarkable event indeed!  Even the eruption of Krakatau did not come anywhere close to achieving such a feat.  Nor am I aware of any geologic process that could do so in such a short time, not without leaving some very profound evidence behind.  In which case, where is it?

It's 300 years. You can have several Krakotoas, the area is off the beaten path on shipping lanes and settlement, nobody will notice.

Not that I particularly think the island was ever there, but that part of the world has been largely unobserved up until World War II. You've got maps labeled with reefs seen by people in the 17th century and islands that are placed on the maps wrong well into 1943, when the area was of vital military interest.

[karajorma]

Several Krakotoas would leave more evidence, not less.

[NGTM-1R]

Which remains irrelevant to the fact that area is effectively unmapped, unexplored, and unobserved by anyone with a pencil and paper until about sixty years ago. Anything could have been going on and nobody who made maps would ever know.