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Biologists suggest that animals and plants have [[Animal migration|migrated]] from island to island on pumice rafts.<ref>[http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=17605 New Island and Pumice Raft, Tonga], NASA Earth Observatory photo with commentary, August 2006</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Nunn|first=Patrick D.|title=Vanished Islands and Hidden Continents of the Pacific|year=2008|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3219-3|page=59}}</ref>
Pumice rafts have unique characteristics such as the highest surface-area-to-volume ratio known for any rock type, long term flotation and beaching in the tidal zone, exposure to a variety of conditions, including dehydration, and finally a surface/subterranean remarkable ability to absorb many potentially advantageous elements/compounds. For at least these reasons, astrobiologists have hypothetically proposed pumice rafts as an ideal substrate for the origin of life.[3] Astrobiology. August 31, 2011</ref>
==Notable examples==
Pumice rafts drifted to [[Fiji]] in 1979 and 1984 from eruptions around Tonga, and some were reportedly {{convert|30|km|mile}} wide.
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