"A further decline in activity was evident in February. The total number of caldera earthquakes recorded in February was 161. Daily earthquake totals ranged between 0 and 17. The earthquakes occurred on the NE and NW-SW parts of the caldera seismic zone. The strongest was an M_L 3.1 event from the SW part of the zone on the 28th. Levelling measurements on the Rabaul Town-Matupit Island line carried out on 20 February indicated little or no change since the previous measurements (9 January)."

Information Contacts: C. McKee, RVO.

Geological Summary. The low-lying Rabaul caldera on the tip of the Gazelle Peninsula at the NE end of New Britain forms a broad sheltered harbor utilized by what was the island's largest city prior to a major eruption in 1994. The outer flanks of the asymmetrical shield volcano are formed by thick pyroclastic-flow deposits. The 8 x 14 km caldera is widely breached on the east, where its floor is flooded by Blanche Bay and was formed about 1,400 years ago. An earlier caldera-forming eruption about 7,100 years ago is thought to have originated from Tavui caldera, offshore to the north. Three small stratovolcanoes lie outside the N and NE caldera rims. Post-caldera eruptions built basaltic-to-dacitic pyroclastic cones on the caldera floor near the NE and W caldera walls. Several of these, including Vulcan cone, which was formed during a large eruption in 1878, have produced major explosive activity during historical time. A powerful explosive eruption in 1994 occurred simultaneously from Vulcan and Tavurvur volcanoes and forced the temporary abandonment of Rabaul city.