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

Yeo, I. A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9306-3446; McIntosh, I. M.; Bryan, S. E.; Tani, K.; Dunbabin, M.; Metz, D.; Collins, P. C.; Stone, K.; Manu, M. S.. 2022 The 2019–2020 volcanic eruption of Late’iki (Metis Shoal), Tonga. Scientific Reports, 12 (1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11133-8

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Abstract/Summary

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.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11133-8
ISSN:	2045-2322
Date made live:	15 Jun 2022 10:40 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532752

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