Undersea Volcano Not Unique To Tonga. See Where Submarine Volcanoes Are Found, Timeline Of Past Eruptions

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano is the most recent eruption of a submarine or undersea volcano, while the Hebrides Terrace Seamount is one of the oldest known eruptions.

In this aerial image, submarine volcano Fukutoku Okanoba erupts, forming a new island near Minami Iwojima Island on January 20, 1986 in Ogasawara, Tokyo, Japan | File Photo: Getty

New De​​lhi: An explosive eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano​ in Tonga​,​ ​a collection of ​around 170 islands​, on Saturday triggered a tsunami in the Pacific Ocean​. The eruption had a radius of 260 km or 161.5 miles, and ​it ​sent ash, steam, and gas 20 kilometers into the air, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States.

This was about seven times more powerful than the previous ​undersea or submarine​ ​volcanic ​eruption that occurred on December 20, 2021.   

BREAKING: Satellite image captures Tonga's Hunga volcano erupting

(Source: @US_Stormwatch) pic.twitter.com/VolrJs7Gfi

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) January 15, 2022

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano is the most recent eruption of a submarine volcano, while the Hebrides Terrace Seamount is one of the oldest known eruptions.

Where Submarine Volcanoes Are Found On Earth

Some examples of submarine volcanoes are:

• Adams Seamount in the Pacific Ocean, southwest of Pitcairn Island
• The Ampère Seamount in the Atlantic Ocean
• The Axial Seamount on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, west of Cannon Beach, Oregon, US
• The Banua Wuhu in the Sangihe Islands of Indonesia
• The Bear Seamount in the Atlantic Ocean
• The Bounty Seamount in the Pacific Ocean
• The Bowie Seamount in the Pacific Ocean, west of Haida Gwaii in Canada
• The Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia, located southwest of Sicily
• The Dom João de Castro Bank in the Atlantic Ocean in Portugal
• The Emperor of China submarine volcano in Indonesia
• The Foundation Seamounts in the southern Pacific Ocean
• The Ferdinandea Island in the Mediterranean Sea near the island of Sicily
• The Healy submarine volcano located among New Zealand's Kermadec Islands
• The Hebrides Terrace Seamount in the Atlantic Ocean, west-southwest from Scotland
• The Kick 'em Jenny on the Caribbean Sea floor
• The Kolumbo volcano in the Aegean Sea in Greece
• The Loihi Seamount off the coast of the island of Hawaii
• The Macdonald Seamount in Polynesia, southeast of the Austral Islands
• The Monaco Bank, in the Azores in Portugal
• The Monowai Seamount, north of New Zealand
• The Oomurodashi, an active volcano island located south of Izu-Oshima, Japan
• The Orca Seamount in Antarctica
• The Protector Shoal volcano in the South Sandwich Islands in the United Kingdom
• The Supply Reed in Maug Islands, United States
• The Tagoro, El Hierro in Spain
• The Tuzo Wilson Seamounts off the coast of British Columbia, Canada
• An unnamed volcano, or Ibugos, located near the island of Ibugos in the Philippines
• The West Mata, located southwest of Samoa, in Oceania
• The Yersey in Indonesia 

Past Eruptions Of Submarine Volcanoes

• 2020: The Ferdinandea volcano in Ecuador, South America. It had once erupted in 1863 also 
• 2017: The Kick 'em Jenny in Grenada, West Indies, according to the website of the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History 
• 2015: The last known eruption of the Axial Seamount 
• 2012: The last known eruptions of the Tagoro volcano and the Monowai Seamount 
• 2009: The West Mata last erupted 
• 1996: Loihi Seamount
• 1989: Supply Reef volcano
• 1989: Macdonald Seamount
• 1962: Protector Shoal
• 1919: The last recorded eruption of the Banua Wuhu volcano  
• 1911: Monaco Bank 
• 1867: Campi Flegrei del Mar Sicilia volcano
• 1854: Unnamed volcano in the Philippines
• 1720, 1650 and 1360: The last known eruptions of the Dom João de Castro Bank, the Kolumbo submarine volcano, and the Healy submarine volcano, respectively
• 50 BC: The last known eruption of the Adams Seamount
• Holocene era: The Tuzo Wilson Seamounts last erupted 12,000 years ago
• Pleistocene era: The Bowie Seamount last erupted 18,000 years ago
• Cenozoic era: The Hebrides Terrace Seamount, located in present day Scotland, which erupted 65 million years ago, is one of the oldest known eruptions.

Largest Deep-Water Eruption Recorded In Modern Times

One of the largest volcanoes in the Earth is located three thousand feet or 900 metres beneath the sea surface, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, according to a Smithsonian article. This underwater volcano is called Havre. The Havre eruption site is located 600 miles north of New Zealand.

In 2012, Havre had one of its most recent eruptions, which is the largest deep water eruption ever recorded in modern times. For 90 days, lava poured out from a total of 14 vents around the semicircular volcanic opening. 

In 1980, Mount St. Helens, an active stratovolcano, erupted in 1980, and the amount of spewed lava, pumice, and ash produced during the two eruptions are similar, scientists estimate.

The Havre eruption resulted in an oddly coloured patch on the ocean, which was spotted by a passenger on a commercial flight. 

Around 75 per cent of the lava spewed from the Havre volcano made it to the surface and drifted away in the massive pumice raft first spotted by the passenger and also seen in satellite photos. 

Researchers observed large chunks of volcanic pumice, some the size of Volkswagens, littered the seafloor, and a blanket of ash radiated out from the volcano summit. Also, lava had oozed out from several of the vents.