The elusive Cook volcano and other submarine forearc volcanoes in the Solomon Islands

Brief description

Submarine volcanoes reported from the forearc region of the New Georgia Group are anomalously close to the line of northeast wards subduction of the Woodlark Basin. Kavachi is a basalt- andesite volcano that rises nearly 1000 m above the sea floor south of Vangunu. It is frequently active and sometimes builds subaerially. A seamount 9 km northeast of Kavachi may also be a youthful volcano. Kana Keoki volcano, southwest of Rendova, is andesite to rhyolite in composition. It has not been recorded in eruption, and rises to within 700 m of sea level from a base at around 2500 m. Activity ascribed to Cook submarine volcano west of Rendova was reported for 1963 - 4, and a shoal was reported to have been found by leadline sounding, but no volcano was found by detailed bathymetric surveys in 1979 and 1981. The activity probably consisted largely of hydrothermal blow-outs from a sea-floor vent (or vents) 1300 m below sea level, rather than from a volcano. Another submarine volcano has been reported to lie 25 km west of Kavachi, and southeast of Tetepare, but no sign of it was seen on a bathymetric profile run through this location. The New Georgia Group forearc region is very poorly surveyed bathymetrically. A single swathe-mapping sonar survey would show how many submarine volcanoes are present in the region and where they are located, prior to further sampling.

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