Vailulu'u
Sign in to saveVailuluu is a volcanic seamount discovered in 1975. It rises from the sea floor to a depth of and is located between Tau and Rose islands at the eastern end of the Samoa hotspot chain. The basaltic seamount is considered to mark the current location of the Samoa hotspot. The summit of Vailuluu contains a 2 km wide, 400 m deep oval-shaped caldera. Two principal rift zones extend east and west from the summit, parallel to the trend of the Samoan hotspot. A third less prominent rift extends southeast of the summit.
Key facts
- Seamount.name
- Vailuluu
- Seamount.map
- LocationAmericanSamoa.png
- Seamount.map_size
- 300px
- Seamount.map_caption
- Location of American Samoa
- Seamount.location
- South Pacific Ocean
- Seamount.country
- United States
- Seamount.last_eruption
- 2003
- Seamount.discovered
- 1975
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- seamount
- Part of
- Samoan Islands
- Country
- United States
- Elevation
- -592
- Image
- Vailulu'u vents (Expl1546 9667420444).jpg
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Vailulu'u
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
11 sectionsContents
- Name and research history
- Geography and geomorphology
- Hydrothermal vents
- Geology
- Composition
- Biology
- Eruption history
- Gallery
- References
- Sources
- External links
Vailuluu is a volcanic seamount discovered in 1975. It rises from the sea floor to a depth of and is located between Tau and Rose islands at the eastern end of the Samoa hotspot chain. The basaltic seamount is considered to mark the current location of the Samoa hotspot. The summit of Vailuluu contains a 2 km wide, 400 m deep oval-shaped caldera. Two principal rift zones extend east and west from the summit, parallel to the trend of the Samoan hotspot. A third less prominent rift extends southeast of the summit.
Eruptions at Vailuluu were recorded in 1973. An earthquake swarm in 1995 may have been related to an eruption from the seamount. Turbid water above the summit shows evidence of ongoing hydrothermal plume activity. Vailuluu may breach the surface of the ocean and officially become an island if a high rate of eruptions continue.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Vailulu'u” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
On the map
4 mapped locations