Pakistan's Earthquake Was So Strong It Spawned a Whole New Island

Gwadar is a developing city of 85,000 souls on Pakistan's southern coast that until recently didn't have a prominent view of a huge, horrible sludge-nipple poking out of the water. The powerful earthquake of September 24 fixed that, however, shaking the region so hard it spawned a fire-licked mountain in the Arabian Sea.

This odd geological formation rose like a Lovecraftian nightmare shortly after the shaking died down from the 7.7-magnitude quake, which killed more than 350 people and left homeless an additional 100,000. Located about a half-mile offshore, the slimy behemoth surfaced so quickly it kidnapped a bunch of marine life, cooking to death mussels and a large manta ray in the harsh Middle Eastern sun.