Mata o le Afi ("Eye of the Fire" or "Source of the Fire") is an active
volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...
on the island of
Savai'i in
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
. It last erupted in 1902.
1902 eruption
An eruption began on 30 October 1902.
It was preceded by a series of thirteen earthquakes, which damaged stone churches at
Safune and
Sasina and destroyed the church at Paia.
The inhabitants of these villages and of
Aopo
Aopo is a village in the Gaga'ifomauga district on the island of Savai'i in Samoa. It is situated inland in the central north of the island in the district of Gagaʻifomauga
Gagaifomauga is a political district on the island of Savaii in Samoa. ...
fled.
On 8 November Dr
Otto Tetens 450px , Otto Tetens (right) with Mataafa in Mulinuu, Samoa 1904
Otto Tetens (26 September 1865, Rendsburg, Kingdom of Prussia – 15 February 1945, Teplitz-Schönau) was a German natural scientist with an astronomy background.
Life
Tetens was ...
examined the volcano, finding a crater a hundred yards across emitting smoke and rocks,
[ with a second crater two miles to the north where the eruption had finished.][ The eruption had already begun to die down, and ceased around 17 November.][
]
References
Mountains of Samoa
Volcanoes of Samoa
Savai'i
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