Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Supply Reef

Find U.S. Volcano

Supply Reef is a conical submarine volcano in the northern Mariana Islands that rises to within 8 m of the sea surface.

Facts Block

Location: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Latitude: 20.13° N

Longitude: 145.1° E

Elevation: -8 (m) -26 (f)

Volcano type: Submarine 

Composition: Andesite

Most recent eruption: 1989 CE

Threat Potential: Low/Very Low*

*based on the National Volcano Early Warning System

Summary

Supply Reef is a conical submarine volcano in the northern Mariana Islands that rises to within 8 m of the sea surface. The andesitic seamount lies about 10 km NW of the Maug Islands, the emergent summit of a submarine volcano that is joined to Supply Reef by a low saddle at a depth of about 1800 m. Several submarine eruptions have been detected by sonar signals originating from points very approximately located at distances of 15-25 km NW of Supply Reef. From the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program.

Publications

Volcanic hazards in the Pacific U.S. Territories

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and American Samoa lie along the western side of the famed Pacific Ring of Fire. Here, the processes of active island and submarine volcanoes produce activity both underwater and in the atmosphere that poses potential hazards to the daily lives of residents and travelers. Since 2000, CNMI volcanoes have erupted six times, and one submarine vo
Authors
Gabrielle Tepp, Brian Shiro, William W. Chadwick

2018 update to the U.S. Geological Survey national volcanic threat assessment

When erupting, all volcanoes pose a degree of risk to people and infrastructure, however, the risks are not equivalent from one volcano to another because of differences in eruptive style and geographic location. Assessing the relative threats posed by U.S. volcanoes identifies which volcanoes warrant the greatest risk-mitigation efforts by the U.S. Geological Survey and its partners. This update

Authors
John W. Ewert, Angela K. Diefenbach, David W. Ramsey

Volcanic investigations in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, April to May 1994

A team of U.S. Geological Survey geologists, a seismologist, and technicians gathered new geologic, seismic, and deformation data in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Nine volcanic islands on the active East Mariana Ridge north of Saipan were examined between April 20 and May 3, 1994. In addition, a new radio-telemetry seismic station was installed on the island of Agrihan (

Authors
M. K. Sako, F. A. Trusdell, R. Y. Koyanagi, George Kojima, R. B. Moore