Skip to main content
← Back to map
⇄ Compare

Raoul Island

Stratovolcano · New Zealand · 516m

Anvil-shaped Raoul Island is the largest and northernmost of the Kermadec Islands. Two calderas are prominent in this International Space Station view with N to the upper right. The 2.5 x 3.5 km caldera cuts the center of the island, and the E wall of the partially submerged Denham Bay caldera rises above the smooth coastline at the left-center. The 6.5 x 4 km wide Denham Bay caldera formed during a major dacitic explosive eruption about 2,200 years ago, which truncated the W side of the island.
Anvil-shaped Raoul Island is the largest and northernmost of the Kermadec Islands. Two calderas are prominent in this International Space Station view with N to the upper right. The 2.5 x 3.5 km caldera cuts the center of the island, and the E wall of the partially submerged Denham Bay caldera rises above the smooth coastline at the left-center. The 6.5 x 4 km wide Denham Bay caldera formed during a major dacitic explosive eruption about 2,200 years ago, which truncated the W side of the island. · Photo: NASA International Space Station image ISS002-E-8883, 2001 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Stratovolcano
Country
New Zealand
Region
Tonga-Kermadec Volcanic Regions / Northern Kermadec Volcanic Arc
Elevation
516m
Coordinates
-29.270, -177.920
Last eruption
2006
Tectonic setting
Subduction zone / Oceanic crust (< 15 km)
Landform
Composite
Major rock type
Andesite / Basaltic Andesite
Geological summary

Anvil-shaped Raoul Island is the largest and northernmost of the Kermadec Islands. During the past several thousand years volcanism has been dominated by dacitic explosive eruptions. Two Holocene calderas exist, the older of which cuts the center the island and is about 2.5 x 3.5 km wide. Denham caldera, formed during a major dacitic explosive eruption about 2200 years ago, truncated the W side of the island and is 6.5 x 4 km wide. Its long axis is parallel to the tectonic fabric of the Havre Trough that lies W of the volcanic arc. Historical eruptions during the 19th and 20th centuries have sometimes occurred simultaneously from both calderas, and have consisted of small-to-moderate phreatic eruptions, some of which formed ephemeral islands in Denham caldera. An unnamed submarine cone, one of several located along a fissure on the lower NNE flank, has also erupted during historical time, and satellitic vents are concentrated along two parallel NNE-trending lineaments.

From Wikipedia

Raoul Island is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, 900 km south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and 1,100 km north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity during the past several thousand years that was dominated by dacitic explosive eruptions, with the largest being VEI-6.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
2000 BCE~1809 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 41237 BCE~1046 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 4283 BCE~92 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 692 BCE~98 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 398~289 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 4289~480 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 4480~671 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 4671~861 · 2 eruptions · max VEI 41434~1624 · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?1624~1815 · 3 eruptions · max VEI 41815~2006 · 5 eruptions · max VEI 32000 BCE1046 BCE92 BCE8611815

Detailed timeline

  1. 2006VEI 1Observed
    2006-03-17 – 2006-03-17
    Green Lake crater
  2. 1987VEI 0Geological estimate
    1987-03-25 – 1987-03-25
    NNE flank (7 km from Raoul Island)
  3. 1964VEI 2Observed
    1964-11-19 – 1965-04-25
    West side of Green Lake, Denham caldera
  4. 1886VEI 0Observed
    1886-03 – Ongoing
    NNE flank (7.5 km from Raoul Island)
  5. 1870VEI 3Observed
    1870-06-20 – 1870-10-03
    Denham caldera, Green Lake
  6. 1814VEI 3Observed
    1814-03-09 – Ongoing
    Denham caldera and Smith Crater
  7. 1720 (±50 yrs)VEI 4Geological estimate
    1720 – Ongoing
    Denham Bay?, Tui Lake Crater
  8. 1630 (±50 yrs)VEI 4Geological estimate
    1630 – Ongoing
    Rangitahua Crater
  9. 1450VEI ?Geological estimate
    1450 – Ongoing
    NE of Raoul Island (Meyer Islands)
  10. 850VEI 4Geological estimate
    850 – Ongoing
    Expedition Crater
  11. 700VEI 3Geological estimate
    700 – Ongoing
    Pukekohu Crater
  12. 550VEI 4Geological estimate
    550 – Ongoing
    Green Lake Pumice Crater
  13. 400VEI 4Geological estimate
    400 – Ongoing
    S part Raoul Caldera
  14. 100VEI 4Geological estimate
    100 – Ongoing
    N flank Moumoukai volcano
  15. 50 BCEVEI 3Geological estimate
    BCE 50 – Ongoing
    Denham caldera?
  16. 250 BCE (±75 yrs)VEI 6Geological estimate
    BCE 250 – Ongoing
    Denham caldera
  17. 1200 BCE (±150 yrs)VEI 4Geological estimate
    BCE 1200 – Ongoing
    SW part of Raoul caldera
  18. 2000 BCE (±100 yrs)VEI 4Geological estimate
    BCE 2000 – Ongoing
    SE Raoul caldera

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.