Kuwae

Name

Kuwae

Depth

2 meters

Height

400 meters

Type

Submarine volcano

Location

Vanuatu

Status

Historical

Eruption

1974 

Description

The largely submarine Kuwae caldera occupies the area between Epi and Tongoa islands. 6 x 12 kilometers caldera contains two basins that cut the NW end of Tongoa Island and the flank of the late Pleistocene or Holocene Tavani Ruru volcano on the SE tip of Epi Island. Native legends and radiocarbon dates from pyroclastic flow deposits have been correlated with a 1452 AD ice core peak thought to be associated with collapse of Kuwae caldera, others considered the deposits to be of smaller scale eruptions and the ice core peak to be associated with another unknown major South Pacific eruption.