Umboi, Ritter Island, Sakar--Papua New Guinea

Location of volcanoes at Umboi Island and the western end of New Britain.
From Fisher (1957). Langila belongs to New Britain.

Volcanoes of the eastern part of the western arc, south Bismarck Sea.
From Ball and Johnson (1976).

Umboi, Papua New Guinea

Location: 5.6S, 147.9E
Elevation: 1,548 m

Umboi is a Holocene complex volcano with no historic eruptions. A complex volcano is "an extensive assemblage of spatially, temporally, and genetically related major and minor [volcanic] centers with their associated lava flows and pyroclastic flows" (Francis, 1994, p. 351).


Space Shuttle photo STS045-0091-0079 looking north across Umboi, the west end of New Britain, and nearby volcanic islands. Photo taken April 2, 1992.

Ritter Island, Papua New Guinea

Location: 5.5S, 148.1E
Elevation: 140 m

Ritter Island is a stratovolcano with at least five historic eruptions since 1700. The first historic eruption was at least moderate-large (VEI=3) in size. The most recent two eruptions (1972 and 1974) were submarine and generated tsunami but no fatalities. The 1888 eruption was phreatic. This eruption produced a debris avalanche that generated a tsunami. The tsunami was 12-15 m above sea level and killed as many as 3,000 people on nearby islands, including Umboi and New Britain.


Space Shuttle photo STS048-0616-0055 looking south across Umboi, the west end of New Britain, and nearby volcanic islands. Photo taken September 16, 1991.

Sakar, Papua New Guinea

Location: 5.4S, 148.1E
Elevation: 992 m

Sakar is a stratovolcano that is probably Holocene in age (no rocks have been dated). It has not had any historic eruptions.

Sources of Information:

Ball, E.E., and Johnson, R.W., 1976, Volcanic history of Long Island, Papua New Guinea, in Johnson, R.W., ed., 1976, Volcanism in Australia: Amsterdam, Elsevier, p. 133-147.

Fisher, N.H., 1957, Part V, Melanesia: Catalogue of the active volcanoes of the world, International Association of Volcanology, Rome, Italy, 105 p.

Francis, P., 1994, Volcanoes a planetary perspective: Oxford University Press, New York, 443 p.

Johnson, R.W., ed., 1976, Volcanism in Australia: Amsterdam, Elsevier, 405 p.

Simkin, T., and Siebert, L., 1994, Volcanoes of the World: Geoscience Press, Tucson, Arizona, 349 p.