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Teahitia

No photo available for this volcano
  • Country
  • Primary Volcano Type
  • Last Known Eruption
  •  
  • 17.564°S
  • 148.821°W

  • -1743 m
    -5719 ft

  • 333010
  • Latitude
  • Longitude

  • Summit
    Elevation

  • Volcano
    Number

Most Recent Bulletin Report: January 1985 (SEAN 10:01) Citation IconCite this Report

Earthquake swarm and probable submarine eruption

Between 11 and 22 January, RSP stations on Tahiti recorded about 10,000 seismic events near Teahitia (figure 4). From 15-19 January, about 50 seismic events stronger than ML 3.5 were recorded. A number of those were felt by some of the inhabitants of Tahiti, 40 km SW, and three, of magnitudes 4.0, 4.2, and 4.4, were felt by the entire population. Very intense, high-frequency, long-duration volcanic tremors were recorded 19 January. Talandier noted that the intensity and duration of the tremors pointed to magmatic transfer. He also stated that this swarm certainly led to a submarine eruption, as did previous swarms. There were more events and greater seismic energy release in the January swarm than in previous swarms in April-May 1982, July and December 1983, and April-May 1984. Only the 1982 swarm had stronger deep activity.

Figure (see Caption) Figure 4. Seismicity near Teahitia during 5 January-23 February 1985. Number of recorded earthquakes at 12-hour intervals (solid line), duration of high-frequency tremor in minutes (bars), and cumulative seismic energy release (dashed line, log scale). Courtesy of J. Talandier.

Information Contacts: J.M. Talandier, Lab. de Géophysique, Tahiti.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Teahitia.

Bulletin Reports - Index

Reports are organized chronologically and indexed below by Month/Year (Publication Volume:Number), and include a one-line summary. Click on the index link or scroll down to read the reports.

04/1982 (SEAN 07:04) Seismicity suggests first historical eruption

08/1983 (SEAN 08:08) Shallow earthquakes and high-frequency tremor

04/1984 (SEAN 09:04) Seismic swarms indicate two submarine eruptions

01/1985 (SEAN 10:01) Earthquake swarm and probable submarine eruption




Information is preliminary and subject to change. All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


April 1982 (SEAN 07:04) Citation IconCite this Report

Seismicity suggests first historical eruption

On 14 March, the RSP began to record earthquakes in the vicinity of a seamount, with a summit at about 2 km below sea level, located about 3 km W of Rocard submarine volcano (17.640°S, 148.60°W) and 40 km NE of Tahiti's Taiarapu Peninsula. The increasing activity consisted only of low-magnitude earthquakes until 25 March, when the five Tahiti-Moorea seismic stations began to detect volcanic tremor of 5-10 Hz frequency (figure 1). The Laboratoire de Géophysique attributed the tremor to magma movement and submarine eruptions. Periods of tremor, of variable duration but nearly continuous on some days, accompanied the increasingly numerous discrete earthquakes. Tremor began to decline after 9 April and none has been recorded since the 18th. As of 23 April, weak earthquakes and episodic 1.5-2 Hz seismic noise continued. More than 10,000 individual earthquakes (ML > 0.9) were recorded during the swarm, the strongest of which had magnitudes of 3.5-4 (ML) and were felt on Tahiti.

Figure (see Caption) Figure 1. Seismicity near Teahitia during 17 March-30 April 1982. Number of recorded earthquakes at 12-hour intervals (solid line), duration of high-frequency tremor in minutes (bars), and cumulative seismic energy release (dashed line, log scale). Courtesy of J. Talandier.

No volcanic activity had previously been known at the seamount, for which the name Teahitia has been proposed. The activity was similar to that of Mehetia (90 km ESE), March-December 1981.

Information Contacts: J.M. Talandier, Lab. de Géophysique, Tahiti.


August 1983 (SEAN 08:08) Citation IconCite this Report

Shallow earthquakes and high-frequency tremor

Between 11 and 20 July, the RSP recorded 3,000-4,000 shallow earthquakes at Teahitia, accompanied by high-frequency volcanic tremor (figure 2).

Figure (see Caption) Figure 2. Seismicity near Teahitia during 10 July-24 August 1983. Number of recorded earthquakes at 12-hour intervals (solid line), duration of high-frequency tremor in minutes (bars), and cumulative seismic energy release (dashed line, log scale). Courtesy of J. Talandier.

Information Contacts: J.M. Talandier, Lab. de Géophysique, Tahiti.


April 1984 (SEAN 09:04) Citation IconCite this Report

Seismic swarms indicate two submarine eruptions

From August 1983 to March 1984, the RSP recorded numerous sequences of low-frequency volcanic tremor and two seismic swarms associated with submarine eruptions at Teahitia. On 20-21 December, 300 very small earthquakes were recorded. From 3 March-15 April 1984, approximately 9,000 earthquakes were recorded, accompanied by low- and high-frequency spasmodic and harmonic tremor (figure 3).

Figure (see Caption) Figure 3. Seismicity near Teahitia during 3 March-17 April 1984. Number of recorded earthquakes at 12-hour intervals (solid line), duration of high-frequency tremor in minutes (bars), and cumulative seismic energy release (dashed line, log scale). Courtesy of J. Talandier.

Information Contacts: J.M. Talandier, Lab. de Géophysique, Tahiti.


January 1985 (SEAN 10:01) Citation IconCite this Report

Earthquake swarm and probable submarine eruption

Between 11 and 22 January, RSP stations on Tahiti recorded about 10,000 seismic events near Teahitia (figure 4). From 15-19 January, about 50 seismic events stronger than ML 3.5 were recorded. A number of those were felt by some of the inhabitants of Tahiti, 40 km SW, and three, of magnitudes 4.0, 4.2, and 4.4, were felt by the entire population. Very intense, high-frequency, long-duration volcanic tremors were recorded 19 January. Talandier noted that the intensity and duration of the tremors pointed to magmatic transfer. He also stated that this swarm certainly led to a submarine eruption, as did previous swarms. There were more events and greater seismic energy release in the January swarm than in previous swarms in April-May 1982, July and December 1983, and April-May 1984. Only the 1982 swarm had stronger deep activity.

Figure (see Caption) Figure 4. Seismicity near Teahitia during 5 January-23 February 1985. Number of recorded earthquakes at 12-hour intervals (solid line), duration of high-frequency tremor in minutes (bars), and cumulative seismic energy release (dashed line, log scale). Courtesy of J. Talandier.

Information Contacts: J.M. Talandier, Lab. de Géophysique, Tahiti.

The Global Volcanism Program has no synonyms or subfeatures listed for Teahitia.

Eruptive History

There is data available for 4 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.

1985 Jan 10 - 1985 Jan 25 Confirmed Eruption Max VEI: 0

Episode 1 | Eruption Episode
1985 Jan 10 - 1985 Jan 25 Evidence from Observations: Hydrophonic

List of 3 Events for Episode 1

Start Date End Date Event Type Event Remarks
   - - - -    - - - - Seismicity (tremor)
   - - - -    - - - - Earthquakes (undefined) Time and Type Unknown.
1985 Jan 10    - - - - VEI (Explosivity Index)

1983 Dec 18 - 1984 Jul 14 Confirmed Eruption Max VEI: 0

Episode 1 | Eruption Episode
1983 Dec 18 - 1984 Jul 14 Evidence from Observations: Hydrophonic

List of 4 Events for Episode 1

Start Date End Date Event Type Event Remarks
   - - - -    - - - - Seismicity (tremor) Before eruption.
   - - - -    - - - - Seismicity (tremor)
   - - - -    - - - - Earthquakes (undefined) Time and Type Unknown.
1983 Dec 18    - - - - VEI (Explosivity Index)

1983 Jul 12 - 1983 Jul 26 Confirmed Eruption Max VEI: 0

Episode 1 | Eruption Episode
1983 Jul 12 - 1983 Jul 26 Evidence from Observations: Hydrophonic

List of 3 Events for Episode 1

Start Date End Date Event Type Event Remarks
   - - - -    - - - - Seismicity (tremor)
   - - - -    - - - - Earthquakes (undefined) Time and Type Unknown.
1983 Jul 12    - - - - VEI (Explosivity Index)

1982 Mar 16 - 1982 May 19 Confirmed Eruption Max VEI: 0

Episode 1 | Eruption Episode
1982 Mar 16 - 1982 May 19 Evidence from Observations: Hydrophonic

List of 3 Events for Episode 1

Start Date End Date Event Type Event Remarks
   - - - -    - - - - Seismicity (tremor)
   - - - -    - - - - Earthquakes (undefined) Time and Type Unknown.
1982 Mar 16    - - - - VEI (Explosivity Index)
Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Teahitia.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Teahitia.

Photo Gallery

The Global Volcanism Program has no photographs available for Teahitia.

GVP Map Holdings

The Global Volcanism Program has no maps available for Teahitia.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Teahitia in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites