Persistence of drift pumice in southern Australasian waters

Drift pumice from the 1962 South Sandwich
Islands eruption was observed to persist in Southern
Australasian waters five and a half years after its
eruption and over four years after its first appearance
in these waters. Mostly fine pumice gravels
and sands have been stranded since early 1965.
Regular surface plankton hauls in Mercury
Passage, east Tasmania, in the past two years
indicated a number of influxes of the pumice into
eastern Tasmanian waters. It is postulated that
these influxes probably largely represent material
recycled from earlier standings, although some
pumice may have arrived from continuous indirect
drift. As yet there is no evidence to discount the
possibility of circum-Antarctic circulation of some
of the pumice, before stranding.