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Report on Home Reef (Tonga) — 13 December-19 December 2006


Home Reef

Smithsonian / US Geological Survey Weekly Volcanic Activity Report,
13 December-19 December 2006
Managing Editor: Sally Kuhn Sennert

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2006. Report on Home Reef (Tonga). In: Sennert, S K (ed.), Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 13 December-19 December 2006. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (13 December-19 December 2006)

Home Reef

Tonga

18.992°S, 174.775°W; summit elev. -10 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Observers from a Royal New Zealand Airforce aircraft reported venting and a sulphur smell from Home Reef on 8 December. The island was about 450 m in diameter, circular in shape, and rose to a height of 73 m (240 ft) a.s.l. The water around the island was cloudy with sediment.

Geological Summary. Home Reef, a submarine volcano midway between Metis Shoal and Late Island in the central Tonga islands, was first reported active in the mid-19th century, when an ephemeral island formed. An eruption in 1984 produced a 12-km-high eruption plume, copious amounts of floating pumice, and an ephemeral island 500 x 1500 m wide, with cliffs 30-50 m high that enclosed a water-filled crater. Another island-forming eruption in 2006 produced widespread dacitic pumice rafts that reached as far as Australia.

Source: GeoNet