Havre Seamount | John Seach

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Kermadec Islands, New Zealand

location uncertain
summit depth 1100 m
Underwater volcano

Havre Seamount is located in the Kermadec Islands, NE of New Zealand. The area is part of the Havre Trough. The trough and its northern extension to Lau Basin form a 2700-km-long back arc basin that extends from latitude 15 degrees south, east of Fiji, to the Taupo Volcanic Zone on the north island of New Zealand.

2012 Eruption
A large amount of pumice has been observed floating in the South Pacific ocean 85 nautical miles west-south-west of Raoul Island. The pumice raft was first observed by an aircraft pilot on 1st August 2012. The pumice covered 25,000 square km. Crew on board the ship HMNZS Canterbury observed the pumice on 9th August. The source of the pumice was determined to be Havre Seamount. The pumice raft from an eruption of Havre seamount covered an area of 450 km by 258 km on13th August 2012. The eruption produced enough heat to be detected on the ocean surface by the MODIS satellite. A cluster of earthquakes in the Kermadec Islands on 17-18 July was correlated with the the eruption location.

Further Reading
Murch, A.P., White, J.D. and Carey, R.J., 2019. Characteristics and deposit stratigraphy of submarine-erupted silicic ash, Havre volcano, Kermadec Arc, New Zealand. Frontiers in Earth Science, 7, p.1.

Havre Seamount Eruptions

2012