Ritter Island is a small crescent-shaped volcanic island north-east of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, situated between Umboi Island and Sakar Island. There are several recorded eruptions of this

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic-

andesitic Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

prior to a spectacular lateral collapse which took place in 1888. Before that event, it was a circular conical island about high.

1888 eruption

At about 5:30 am local time on 13 March 1888 a large portion of the island, containing perhaps of material slid into the sea during a relatively minor, possibly VEI 2, phreatic eruption. Eyewitnesses at Finschhafen, to the south, heard explosions and observed an almost imperceptible ash fall.

Tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

s high were generated by the collapse and devastated nearby islands and the adjacent New Guinea coast killing around 3,000 people.Ritter Island at Volcano World
/ref> The collapse left a high, long crescent-shaped island with a steep west-facing escarpment. At least two small eruptions have occurred offshore since 1888, one in 1972 and another in 1974, which have resulted in the construction of a small submarine edifice within the collapse scar.

References

Islands of Papua New Guinea Subduction volcanoes Active volcanoes Stratovolcanoes of Papua New Guinea Holocene stratovolcanoes {{PapuaNewGuinea-geo-stub

1888 eruption

See also

References