The 2019–2020 volcanic eruption of Late’iki (Metis Shoal), Tonga

I. A. Yeo*, I. M. McIntosh, S. E. Bryan, K. Tani, M. Dunbabin, D. Metz, P. C. Collins, K. Stone, M. S. Manu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Late’iki (previously known as Metis Shoal) is a highly active volcano in the Tofua arc with at least four temporary island-building eruptions and one submarine eruption in the last 55 years. The most recent eruption, commencing in October 2019, resulted in lava effusion and subsequent phreatic explosions, the construction of a short-lived island that was quickly eroded by wave action and possibly further phreatic activity that continued into January 2020. The two-pyroxene dacite from the 2019 eruption is similar to the 1967/8 eruptions suggesting the magma is residual from earlier eruptions and has not undergone further differentiation in the last 50 years. New observations of the 2019 eruption site confirm the lava-dominant character of the volcano summit but a thin veneer of wave-reworked, finely fragmented lava material remains that is interpreted to have been produced by phreatic explosions from hot rock-water interactions during the effusive eruption. A notable absence of quench-fragmented hyaloclastite breccias suggests that non-explosive quench fragmentation processes were minimal at these shallow depths or that hyaloclastite debris has resedimented to greater depths beyond our summit survey area.

Original languageEnglish
Article number7468
JournalScientific Reports
Volume12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 06 May 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Kirsty Bowe, Pook Twomey and Nusa for invaluable assistance with the survey work, and Alistair Grinham for assistance with bathymetry processing. We are grateful to the Ministry of Lands and Resources, Tonga for granting permission to undertake the surveys and sample collection. Darren Rice is thanked for valuable discussions and observations of Late’iki on December 3 and for providing access to drone footage of Late’iki. This research was supported by a NERC Urgency Grant NE/T010916/1. We are grateful to Mathieu Colombier and an anonymous reviewer for their careful comments and expert advice, which has greatly improved the manuscript.

Funding Information:
We thank Kirsty Bowe, Pook Twomey and Nusa for invaluable assistance with the survey work, and Alistair Grinham for assistance with bathymetry processing. We are grateful to the Ministry of Lands and Resources, Tonga for granting permission to undertake the surveys and sample collection. Darren Rice is thanked for valuable discussions and observations of Late’iki on December 3 and for providing access to drone footage of Late’iki. This research was supported by a NERC Urgency Grant NE/T010916/1. We are grateful to Mathieu Colombier and an anonymous reviewer for their careful comments and expert advice, which has greatly improved the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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