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Mysterious rotating island spins like a giant eye in Argentina's delta [1]

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Date: 2025-07-15

By Argentina Government - https://www.argentina.gob.ar/parquesnacionales/ciervodelospantanos(see https://www.argentina.gob.ar/acerca for "CC BY 4.0" of all media on site) - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy0Vx-BxYt0&t=33 – View/save archived versions on archive.org and archive.todayhttps://www.argentina.gob.ar/parquesnacionales/ciervodelospantanos, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=138111360

A nearly perfect circular island that is constantly rotating within its own lake exists in Argentina's Paraná Delta. The island is known as "El Ojo," due to the fact that it's reminiscent of an eyeball. This natural oddity is 118 meters in diameter and slowly but endlessly spins due to underwater currents.

The island's most amazing feature is its mathematically precise circular shape. El Ojo's rotation has gradually eroded it into an almost perfect circle. This process is expected to continue shrinking the island over time, yet researchers aren't sure when it was first formed.

Scientists have compared El Ojo to a similar phenomenon seen in Maine's Presumpscot River, where rotating ice disks form under certain conditions. El Ojo looks like it was cut out of the surrounding land with an X-Acto knife. Although travelers can't physically stand on El Ojo island due to its instability and ever-moving nature, you can view it from the surrounding lake. This is one of the coolest natural wonders I've seen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ojo

See also: People are increasingly mistaking glue for eye drops. Try not to do that.

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