No latest activity reported for Easter Island.

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.

Baker P E, 1979. Geological aspects of volcano prediction. {J Geol Soc London}, 136: 341-345

Baker P E, Buckley F, Holland J G, 1974. Petrology and geochemistry of Easter Island. {Contr Mineral Petr}, 44: 85-100

Clark J G, Dymond J, 1977. Geochronology and petrochemistry of Easter and Sala y Gomez Islands: implications for the origin of the Sala y Gomez ridge. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 2: 29-48

Gonzalez-Ferran O, 1995. {Volcanes de Chile}. Santiago: Instituto Geografico Militar, 635 p

Gonzalez-Ferran O, Mazzuoli R, Lahsen A, 2004. Geologia del complejo volcanico Isla de Pascua Rapa Nui. {Centro Estudios Volc, Santiago - Chile}, 1:30,000 geol map

Haase K M, Stoffers P, Garbe-Schonberg C-D, 1997. The petrologic evolution of lavas from Easter Island and neighbouring seamounts, near-ridge hot spot volcanoes in the SE Pacific. {J Petr}, 38: 785-813

IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. {IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth's Interior}.

Kaneoka I, Katsui Y, 1985. K-Ar ages of volcanic rocks from Easter Island. {Bull Volc Soc Japan}, 30: 33-36

Vezzoli L, Acocella V, 2009. Easter Island, SE Pacific: an end-member type of hotspot volcanism. {Geol Soc Amer Bull}, 121: 869-886

The triangular-shaped Easter Island, renowned for its dramatic megalithic statues of hand-carved basalt, sits atop the Sala y Gomez submarine ridge, which trends eastward from the East Pacific Rise. Easter Island, also known as Isla de Pascua or Rapa Nui, forms the westernmost territory of Chile. The island is composed of three principal volcanoes and more than 70 subsidiary vents. Rano Kau, which contains a flat-bottomed, 1-km-wide crater, and Poike volcano form the SW and east tips of the island, respectively, and are of Pleistocene age. The youngest and largest volcano, Terevaka, is a broad shield volcano of Pliocene-to-Pleistocene age at the northern leg of the triangular island, which is capped by many pyroclastic cones. The last stage of activity consisted of eruptions from multiple rift zones extending along the axes of the island and radially from them. The latest lava flows, at Hiva-Hiva near the west-central coast, are thought to be less than 2000 years old.