Fonuafo‘ou ("New land" in Tongan), formerly known as Falcon Island, is a

submarine volcano Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...

in the western part of the Ha'apai group in

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

. The volcano has created an island several times throughout history. It was first spotted by the crew of the British ship HMS ''Falcon'' in 1867, while it was still a

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

. On 11 October 1885, the volcano erupted and spouted tons of molten

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

. Three days later, on 14 October 1885, the eruption created an island, which was named Falcon island by the British. Several eruptions occurred in 1894, 1921, 1927, 1928, 1933 and 1936, consolidating the island and expanding its surface (6 km in diameter, in height in 1949). In 1949, another eruption caused the explosion and the collapse of the island, which disappeared underwater. New eruptions were recorded in 1970 and 1993. The volcano of Fonuafo'ou is currently underwater.

References

Volcanoes of Tonga Submarine volcanoes Active volcanoes Former islands of Tonga {{Volcanoes in Tonga