Magma and lava from a volcanic eruption in the remote Pacific have formed a new island measuring one square mile in size.

Photographs taken of the island of Nishinoshima, since an eruption off its coast in November 20, 2013, reveal the landmass is continuing to increase in size in an extremely rare volcanic phenomenon.

The eruption off the coast of Nishinoshima island - which is located within the Ring of Fire - initially created an islet but the volcanic discharge has now merged with it to form a single landmass.

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Before: The island of Nishinoshima (top left) pictured during the underwater eruption off its coast

After: The two pieces of land pictured today after magma and lava from the eruption eventually cooled and connected the two to form a single landmass

Pictures of the site taken by the Japanese Coastguard show how the two islands have slowly formed into a single landmass over the past 15 months.

Initially, scientists were unsure how long it would last because volcanic islets of that type tend to be reclaimed by the sea after a short time.

The coastguard said the island is now 52 times bigger than the Tokyo Dome and is expected to continue growing, CNN reported.

Early images also revealed remarkable discoloration of the water, caused by volcanic minerals and white puffs of steam and gases.

Although the area regularly experiences earthquakes and eruptions, they are rarely as powerful as the latest one.

This picture, taken on December 25, 2013, shows the new islet in its early formative stages

After erupting for a month, it had formed an islet that just touched neighbouring Nishinoshima

The underwater eruption began (pictured left and right) on November 20, 2013, and has continued ever since

In fact, the forming of the new island is the first time the phenomenon has happened in almost 30 years.

Video footage showed smoke billowing from part of the ocean around the Ogasawara island chain and the Japanese coastguard later confirmed it was coming from the new islet.

This chain, located 620miles south of the Japanese capital Tokyo, is made up of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands.

Volcanologists claim the temperature of the rocks could have been as high as 1,000C.

Recent images taken by the Japanese coastguard show the islet has now joined the existing Nishinoshima