Teahitia

Teahitia is a submarine volcano in the Society Islands whose summit reaches to within ~1,700 m of the surface, 40 km NE of the SE tip of Tahiti Island. Several seismic swarms in the 1980s included volcanic tremor that may have resulted from submarine eruptions (Talandier and Opal, 1984). Rocks dredged in 1986 "exploded" when they reached the surface, suggesting recent lava extrusion that had not yet had time to equilibrate with pressure and temperature conditions on the submerged flanks of the edifice. Two hydrothermal fields each about 400 x 1,000 m exhibiting low-temperature hydrothermal venting were discovered on the flanks during submersible dives in 1986 and 1989.