Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Guguan

Find U.S. Volcano

The small island of Guguan, only 2.8 km wide, is composed of an eroded volcano on the south, a caldera with a post-caldera cone, and a northern volcano.

Quick Facts

Location: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Latitude: 17.307° N

Longitude: 145.845° E

Elevation: 287 (m) 942 (f)

Volcano type: Stratovolcano

Composition: Andesite - Basalt

Most recent eruption: 1883 CE

Threat Potential: Moderate*

*based on the National Volcano Early Warning System

Summary

Photo of Guguan Island
Guguan Island.

The small island of Guguan, only 2.8 km wide, is composed of an eroded volcano on the south, a caldera with a post-caldera cone, and a northern volcano. The latter has three coalescing cones and a breached summit crater that fed lava flows to the west and NW. The 287-m high point of the island is the south rim of the caldera. The only known historical eruption of Guguan took place between 1882 and 1884 and produced the northern volcano and lava flows that reached the coast. 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
Was this page helpful?