This 4-m-wide, water-filled impact crater was formed when the block in background, with volcanologist Ian Nairn providing scale, was ejected during an eruption from White Island in New Zealand in late March 1977. The block, composed of pre-existing crater wall rock, bounced to form the impact crater, and then slid to its present location, 250 m from the source vent.

Photo by Bruce Houghton, 1977 (Wairakei Research Center).

This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license terms.

Galleries: Ash Plumes and Ashfall

Keywords: ballistic ejecta | block | ash | impact crater

Whakaari/White Island