Global Volcanism Program

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Feni.

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

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Feni.

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

254020

Pleistocene

448 m / 1,470 ft

4.0815°S
153.6193°E

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Composite

Volcano Types
Stratovolcano
Caldera
Lava dome(s)
Maar

Rock Types

Major
Phono-tephrite / Tephri-phonolite
Trachybasalt / Tephrite Basanite
Trachyandesite / Basaltic Trachyandesite
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Trachyte / Trachydacite

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zone
Crustal thickness unknown

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

1,643
9,195
9,779
24,367

Geological Summary

The Feni island group, consisting of Ambitle and Babase islands, is located NE of New Ireland. The islands are the emergent summit of a large submarine, dominantly Pliocene-to-Pleistocene, volcanic edifice characterized by a variety of alkalic rocks types. Ambitle is covered by trachytic volcanics, including a possible 3-km-diameter central crater with lava domes K-Ar dated by Licence at al. (1987) to 490,000-680,000 years. Licence et al. (1987) also mapped an 800-m-diameter maar on the E side of the domes that they described as a phreato-magmatic event which produced a 5-30 m thick trachyte tuff-breccia deposit ¹⁴C dated at 2,300 ± 100 years (no details about the sample). Distinct crater features are not clearly identifiable among the highly irregular eroded landscape visible in satellite images (as of 2025), though topographic renderings reveal features consistent with the geological mapping. Several thermal areas, consisting of hot and boiling springs, mud pools, and low-temperature fumaroles, are across the central part of the island. Shallow-water hydrothermal venting also occurs in a coral reef environment just off the western coast. Babase Island, immediately NE of Ambitle, is composed of a low eroded 2.5-km-diameter crater and a lava dome connected by a narrow isthmus.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Fisher N H, 1957. Melanesia. Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields, Rome: IAVCEI, 5: 1-105.

Licence P S, Terrill J E, Fergusson L J, 1987. Epithermal gold mineralization, Ambitle Island, Papua New Guinea. Proceedings of the Pacific Rim Congress 1987, 1: 273-278.

Muller D, Franz L, Scholten J C, Hunt S, 2002. Ladolam Gold Deposit, Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea: Gold Mineralization Hosted by Alkaline Rocks. Society of Economic Geologists Special Publication 9, Chapter 16 in Integrated Methods for Discovery: Global Exploration in the 21st Century, p. 367-283.. https://doi.org/10.5382/SP.09.16

Pichler T, Dix G R, 1996. Hydrothermal venting within a coral reef ecosystem, Ambitle Island, Papua New Guinea. Geology, 24: 435-438.

Wallace D A, Johnson R W, Chappell B W, Arculus R J, Perfit M R, Crick I H, 1983. Cainozoic volcanism of the Tabar, Lihir, Tanga, and Feni Islands, Papua New Guinea: geology, whole-rock analyses, and rock-forming mineral compositions. Aust Bur Min Resour Geol Geophys Rpt, 243: 1-62.

Eruptive History

There is data available for 0 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.

[ 0350 BCE ± 100 years ] Uncertain Eruption

Episode 1 | Uncertain

East side of caldera

0350 BCE ± 100 years - Unknown

Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (uncalibrated)

Licence at al. (1987) reported that "On the eastern side of the domes there is a very recent crater, interpreted as a maar approximately 800 m wide. This crater resulted from a phreato magmatic eruptive event which blanketed much of the central caldera, an area of approximately 9 km², with a 5-30 m thick trachyte tuff-breccia deposit (three ¹⁴C dates age the deposit at 2,300 ± 100 years." The mapped crater is not evident among the highly irregular eroded surface visible in satellite images (as of 2025), and no other details about the samples used to date the deposit were noted. Both the age and determination of magmatic involvement are uncertain, along with a source for the deposit.

List of 2 Events for Episode 1 at East side of caldera

	Start Date	End Date	Event Type	Event Remarks
	- - - -	- - - -	Explosion
	- - - -	- - - -	Tephra

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Anir

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Ambitle

Stratovolcano

448 m

4° 3' 56.00" S

153° 37' 12.00" E

Babase

Stratovolcano

200 m

4° 2' 0.00" S

153° 43' 0.00" E

Thermal

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Kapkai

Thermal

Nanum River

Thermal

4° 5' 0.00" S

153° 38' 0.00" E

Saddle

Thermal

Waramung Plantation

Thermal

4° 5' 0.00" S

153° 38' 0.00" E

Photo Gallery

Ambitle (left center) is the larger of two adjacent islands forming the Feni Islands. The 13-km-long island is dominantly Pliocene-to-Pleistocene with a 3-km-wide central caldera. A maar on the E side of post-caldera lava domes formed about 2,300 years ago. Thermal areas are active within the caldera and just off the W coast. Babase Island, immediately to the NE of Ambitle, is a Pleistocene volcano and lava dome connected by a narrow isthmus.

NASA Space Shuttle image STS88-706-56, 1998 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/).

Ambitle Island is on the left and Babase Island is to the upper right in this February 2020 Planet Labs satellite image monthly mosaic (N is at the top; this image is approximately 21 km across). The 900 x 550 m Ambitle crater is near the center of the larger island and formed within a flank collapse scarp. Lava domes produced block-and-ash flow deposits and lava flows are also present.

Satellite image courtesy of Planet Labs Inc., 2020 (https://www.planet.com/).

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

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

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Feni. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Feni. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

Large Eruptions of Feni

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).