No latest activity reported for Traitor's Head.

Below is a summary of eruption dates and Volcanic Explosivity Indices (VEI).

The following references are the sources used for data regarding this volcano. References are linked directly to our volcano data file. Discussion of another volcano or eruption (sometimes far from the one that is the subject of the manuscript) may produce a citation that is not at all apparent from the title. Additional discussion of data sources can be found under Volcano Data Criteria.

Colley H, Ash R P, 1971. The geology of Erromango. {New Hebrides Condominium Geol Surv Reg Rpt}, 112 p

Fisher N H, 1957. Melanesia. {Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields}, Rome: IAVCEI, 5: 1-105

Katsui Y (ed), 1971. List of the World Active Volcanoes. {Volc Soc Japan draft ms}, (limited circulation), 160 p

Marcelot G, Maury R C, Lefevre C, 1983. Mineralogy of Erromango lavas (New Hebrides): evidence of an early stage of fractionation in island arc basalts. {Lithos}, 16: 135-151

New Hebrides Geological Survey, 1974. Geology of Erromango. {New Hebrides Geol Surv}, 1:100,000 geol map sheet 10

The Traitor's Head Peninsula north of Cook Bay on eastern Erromango Island is comprised of three Holocene volcanic cones that are the youngest on the 50-km-long island. Mounts Rantop, Nagat, and Oulenou are small basaltic-to-andesitic stratovolcanoes with well-preserved morphologies. Mount Rantop is the largest, rising to 837 m, and 421-m-high Mount Oulenou is the most youthful looking, with an unbreached crater. A low plateau to the NW is underlain by ash deposits distributed by southeasterly trade winds. The volcanoes initially formed an offshore island that was joined to the mainland by uplift after volcanism ceased. A submarine vent offshore between the tip of the peninsula and Goat Island, 5 km to the NE, erupted in 1881, the only historical activity of the Erromango volcanoes.