Teahitia ("Standing Fire") 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 ...

, located northeast of the southeast tip of

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

of the

Society Islands The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the F ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, with its peak 1600 meters below the water surface. It belongs to the

Society hotspot The Society hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the south Pacific Ocean which is responsible for the formation of the Society Islands, an archipelago of fourteen volcanic islands and atolls spanning around 720 km of the ocean which formed between 4. ...

. Teahitia's last eruption occurred in 1985. The seamount has four prominent cones. Submersible dives in 1986 and 1989 found two active hydrothermal fields on the volcano's flanks. A further dive in 2013 found ongoing hydrothermal venting. Earthquake swarms in March 1982, July 1983, December 1983, and January 1985 have been associated with submarine eruptions. On 16 March 2008 Teahitia was the epicentre of an earthquake measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale. The weak tremor was felt in Tahiti, causing the beginnings of panic in the population unaccustomed to these seismic phenomena and fearing a tidal wave.

References

Volcanoes of French Polynesia Active volcanoes Submarine volcanoes Seamounts of the Pacific Ocean Hotspot volcanoes {{marine-geo-stub