Tonga Islands Volcanoes Facts & Information

Volcano list

Curacoa

(Submarine volcano -33 m / - 108 ft)

[more]

Fonuafo'ou

(Submarine volcano -17 m / -56 ft)

[more]

Home Reef is a submarine volcano midway between Metis Shoal and Late Island in the central Tonga islands. It was first seen and reported to be active in the mid-19th century, when an ephemeral island formed.
An eruption in 1984 produced a 12-km-high eruption plume, copious... [more]

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai

(Submarine volcano 149 m / 489 ft)

The small islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai cap a large seamount located about 30 km SSE of Falcon Island, approximately 65 km NW of Vuna Wharf, Nuku'alofa, and 70 km SW of Nomuka Island. [more]

Kao

(Stratovolcano 1030 m / 3,379 ft)

[more]

Late

(Stratovolcano 540 m / 1,772 ft)

[more]

Metis Shoal (Lateiki)

(Submarine volcano 43 m / 141 ft)

Metis Shoal or officially renamed to Lateiki volcano is a submarine volcano midway between the islands of Kao and Late. It is frequently in eruption and has produced a series of ephemeral islands since the first confirmed activity in the mid-19th century. [more]

Niuafo'ou

(Shield volcano 260 m / 853 ft)

[more]

Tafahi

(Stratovolcano 560 m / 1,837 ft)

[more]

Tafu-Maka

(Submarine volcano -1400 m / - 4,593 ft)

[more]

Tofua

(caldera 515 m / 1,690 ft)

Aerial photo of Tofua (Tonga Ministry of Lands, Survey, and Natural Resources, 1990, published in Taylor and Ewart, 1997)

Tofua volcano is the subaerial part of a large frequently active stratovolcano. It forms the 8 km wide circular Tofua Island, dominated by the 5 km wide caldera containing a freshwater lake at only 30 m above sea level and surrounded by steep 300 m cliffs.
The island is kno... [more]

Toku

(Submarine 21 m / 69 ft)

[more]

Unnamed

(Submarine -331 m / -1086 ft)

[more]

Unnamed 20.85°S/175.55°W

(Submarine volcano -13 m / - 43 ft)

A plume and discolored water from a submarine eruption were observed in January 1999. This unnamed submarine volcano, 35 km NW of the Niu Aunofo lighthouse on Tongatapu Island, was constructed at the southern end of a submarine ridge segment of the Tofua volcanic arc extending NNE to Falcon Island. The first documented eruptions took place in 1911 and 1923. An ephemeral island was formed during this eruption in 1999; prior to this the summit was 13 m beneath the sea surface. (Photo by B. Hutchins, 1999, published in Taylor, 1999, via GVP)

[more]