Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstracts
Vanished islands in Vanuatu: new research and a preliminary geohazard assessment
Patrick D. Nunn1, Mary Baniala2, Morris Harrison3, and Paul Geraghty4
1Department of Geography, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. nunn_p@usp.ac.fj
2The University of the South Pacific—Emalus Campus, Port Vila, Vanuatu.
3Department of Geology, Mines and Water Resources, Private Bag 001, Port Vila, Vanuatu.
4Department of Literature and Language, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.
Abstract Oral traditions recalling the
disappearances of islands in the volcanically and seismically active
central part of the Vanuatu archipelago were collected from informants
on Ambae, Maewo, Malakula, and Pentecost Islands. Analyses of the
details of these traditions and the meanings of the names of the
vanished islands suggest that they once existed. Vanished islands off
north-west Malakula, named Tolamp and Malveveng, are likely to have
subsided abruptly down the slope to the interarc rift marked by the
South Aoba Basin. The unnamed vanished island off the western tip of
Ambae is likely to have subsided during a volcanic or seismic event.
The vanished island named (Vanua) Mamata between Ambae, Maewo, and
Pentecost is also likely to have slipped down the flank of the slope to
the South Aoba Basin. Island disappearances of this kind are memorable
expressions of the geohazards that affect areas like central Vanuatu.
The novel approach adopted here is argued to be an important adjunct to
more conventional approaches to geohazard assessment in such places.
Keywords Island; Pacific; Vanuatu; oral tradition; geohazard
R05004 Received 5 December 2005; accepted 1 March 2006; Online publication date 17 March 2006
Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand
Volume 36, Number 1, March, 2006, pp 37–50
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