Between 2 August and 5 September, 109 T-phase events originating in the NW Pacific were received by a high-gain station at Rangiroa, Tahiti. J.M. Talandier notes that their characteristics are typical of submarine volcanic eruptions, being of shallow (ocean) depth; the timing of the events coincides with the presence of a zone of discolored water near [Supply Reef]. However, a precise origin cannot be determined because the events were of weak amplitude and recorded by only one station.

Geological Summary. Supply Reef is a conical submarine volcano in the northern Mariana Islands that rises to within 8 m of the surface. The andesitic seamount lies about 10 km NW of the Maug Islands, the emergent summit of a submarine volcano that is joined to Supply Reef by a low saddle at a depth of about 1800 m. Supply Reef was mapped as Quaternary; living corals on the crater rim suggest that it is either dormant or extinct (Corwin, 1971). Several submarine eruptions have been detected by sonar signals originating from points very approximately located at distances of 15-25 km NW.

Information Contacts: J. Talandier, Lab. de Geophysique, Tahiti.