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Home Reef

Stratovolcano · Tonga · 10m (submarine)

A partially eroded pumice cone formed during an eruption that began on 7 August 2006 is seen from the N on 18 December. By the end of the year, wave erosion had destroyed the cone. Floating dacite pumice from this eruption traveled as far as Australia. 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.
A partially eroded pumice cone formed during an eruption that began on 7 August 2006 is seen from the N on 18 December. By the end of the year, wave erosion had destroyed the cone. Floating dacite pumice from this eruption traveled as far as Australia. 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. · Photo: Photo courtesy of Royal New Zealand Air Force and Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences, 2006. · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Stratovolcano
Country
Tonga
Region
Tonga-Kermadec Volcanic Regions / Tofua Volcanic Arc
Elevation
10m (submarine)
Coordinates
-18.992, -174.775
Last eruption
2026
Tectonic setting
Subduction zone / Oceanic crust (< 15 km)
Landform
Composite
Major rock type
Dacite
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, large amounts of floating pumice, and an ephemeral 500 x 1,500 m island, with cliffs 30-50 m high that enclosed a water-filled crater. In 2006 an island-forming eruption produced widespread dacitic pumice rafts that drifted as far as Australia. Another island was built during a September-October 2022 eruption.

From Wikipedia

Home Reef is a volcanic island atop a submarine volcano in Tonga. It is located southwest of Vava'u, between the islands of Kao and Late along the Tofua volcanic arc. The island is ephemeral, and has been repeatedly built and eroded by successive eruptions in 1852, 1857, 1984, 2006, 2022, and 2023.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
1852~1869 · 2 eruptions · max VEI 21973~1990 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 31990~2008 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 22008~2025 · 5 eruptions · max VEI 218521887193919732008

Detailed timeline

  1. 2025VEI ?Observed
    2025-12-17 – 2026-03-20
  2. 2024VEI 1Observed
    2024-06-10 – 2024-07-04
  3. 2024VEI 2Observed
    2024-12-04 – 2025-06-29
  4. 2023VEI 1Observed
    2023-10-12 – 2023-10-19
  5. 2022VEI 2Observed
    2022-09-10 – 2022-10-17
  6. 2006VEI 2Observed
    2006-08-07 – 2006-08-16
  7. 1984VEI 3Observed
    1984-03-01 – 1984-03-05
  8. 1857VEI 2Geological estimate
    1857 – Ongoing
  9. 1852VEI 2Observed
    1852 – Ongoing

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.