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Data from the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution
Details for: Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai
The small islands of Hunga Tonga (upper right) and Hunga Ha'apai (left) are the peaks a large seamount located about 30 km SSE of Falcon Island. The two islands are about 2 km long. They have inward-facing cliffs that represent the W and N remnants of the rim of a largely-submarine caldera lying E and S of the islands. A shoal is visible 3.2 km SE of Hunga Ha'apai and 3 km south of Hunga Tonga and marks the most prominent historically active vent. Aerial photo by Tonga Ministry of Lands, Survey, and Natural Resources, 1991 (published in Taylor and Ewart, 1997).
Volcano Number:
243040
Volcano Name:
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai
Country:
Tonga
Volcano Type:
Caldera
Last Eruption:
2022 CE
Elevation:
114m
Tectonic Setting:
Subduction zone / Oceanic crust (< 15 km)
Pop. within 5km:
230
Pop. within 10km:
230
Pop. within 30km:
532
Pop. within 100km:
86213
Latitude:
-20.5532
Longitude:
-175.3841
Details
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The small andesitic islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai are part of the western and northern remnants of the rim (~6 km diameter) of a largely submarine caldera located about 30 km SSE of Falcon Island. The topmost sequence of welded and unwelded ignimbrite units from a caldera-forming eruption was 14C dated to 1040-1180 CE (Cronin et al., 2017; Brenna et al. 2022). At least two additional welded pumice-rich ignimbrite units and nonwelded pyroclastic flow deposits, below paleosols and other volcaniclastic deposits, indicated more very large previous eruptions (Cronin et al., 2017; Brenna et al. 2022). Several submarine eruptions have occurred at this caldera system since the first recorded eruption in 1912, including 1937 and S of the islands in 1988. A short eruption in 2009 added land to to Hunga Ha'apai. At that time the two islands were each about 2 km long, displaying inward-facing sea cliffs with lava and tephra layers dipping gently away from the caldera. An eruption during December 2014-January 2015 was centered between the islands, and combined them into one larger structure. Major explosive eruptions in late 2021 initially reshaped the central part of the combined island before stronger activity in mid-January 2022 removed most of the 2014-15 material; an even larger eruption the next day sent an eruption plume high into the stratosphere, triggered shock waves through the atmosphere and tsunami across the Pacific Ocean, and left only small remnants of the islands above the ocean surface.
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Eruption Data from the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution
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Emissions Data from the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution
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Data from the Earthchem Library
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Data from the SESAR Database
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Data from the MaGa Database
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Data from UNAVCO
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Data from USIEI
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Data from IRIS FDSNWS
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