Volcanism along the Northern EPR 9.8° – 17° N

Location of RISE Project area at the Northern East Pacific Rise. Image courtesy Wiki

Volcanoes of Samoa – Part 2 of 2

Google Maps screen capture of Tutuila Island. Multiple volcanoes are clearly visible. Collapsed and heavily eroded Pago volcano is barely visible. Note the lack of barrier reef surrounding the island, which should indicate how rapid the island is subsiding back into the ocean.

Volcanoes of Samoa – Part 1 of 2

Google Maps screen capture of the Samoan Islands. The two main islands of the nation of Samoa are clearly visible left of center, Savai’i and Upolu. The main islands of American Samoa also visible, the American Samoa label is hiding Tuluila. To its east are Ofu – Olosega, Ta’u and the Vailulu’u seamount. Sea floors are up to 5,000 under the island chain. Multiple seamounts, some related, some not, are visible. The curved structure in the lower right is the transition of the Kermadec – Tonga Trench into the Vitaz Trench, a source of significant tectonic stress in the region.

Lolobau Island, PNG

Lolobau Island from the air. Intra-caldera Lake Namor clearly visible. Southern and eastern caldera scarps clearly visible. Most recent Lolobau Mountain visible in the center of the photo with clouds to its south. Image courtesy Brendan McCormick Kilbride, Twitter, May 2019

Volcanoes of the Solomon Islands – Part 2 of 2

Kana Keoki, Coleman Seamount and Rendova Volcano from Google Maps. Kana Keoki is left of center toward the edge of the image with a dual peak. It also looks a bit eroded. Neighboring Coleman Seamount has a clearly defined crater and looks a bit younger. Screen capture from Google Maps

Volcanoes of the Solomon Islands – Part 1 of 2

Map of Solomon Islands and most of its volcanoes. Two active volcanoes are in yellow, Kavachi, center left, and Tinakula, lower right. Recently active volcanoes are in bright green. Dormant / extinct volcanoes are black. Bougainville Island in the upper left is part of Papua New Guinea, but also volcanic. New Georgia Island group center left is home to most of the volcanoes to be discussed in this post. Image screen capture from interactive map in Volcano Discovery

Are there Volcanoes in FIJI 🇫🇯 ?

(https://www.tourismfiji.com)

When the news reported multiple volcanoes erupting in Vanuatu – when new volcanoes appeared near Tonga Islands – when earthquakes shook most of Melanesia left right and center – I have often wondered if, or why, there are no volcanoes on the Fiji Islands? Well, you probably guess the answer – of course there are! They are just not very busy at the moment, so they may escape our attention, and may lull the residents in false security, too. The three that are mentioned by the GVP are Taveuni and Koro Islands, and Nabukelevu which occupies the SW end of Kadavu Island.

Rabaul Caldera – a Most Dangerous System

Tavurvur eruption in Rabaul Caldera. Image courtesy Mountain Forecast.com. https://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Rabaul-caldera

Activity Continues at Langila, New Britain, PNG

Langila Volcano. Crater 3 is to the right. Image taken in 1970. Courtesy Smithsonian GVP. https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=252010

TINAKULA 🇸🇧 – New Photos & Update

(© Ryszard Chajęcki, R/V Petrel)

In our post about Tinakula’s October 2017 eruption I wrote: “This island is so remote that exiting news of an eruption may come through within a few days, but we will probably never learn when, how, or if at all the eruption has ended.”

Well, officially the eruption seems to have ended on 26 October 2017, as listed by the GVP. However, National Situation Reports by the NDMO appeared up into the first week of November; a volcanic assessment on Tinakula on Nov. 5 showed numerous eruptions