Matthew and Hunter. Important Bird Area The island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding population of red-tailed tropicbirds, with some 100–200 pairs estimated in 2007. Matthew Island Matthew Island () is in area, with a high stratovolcano located at . The volcanic island is composed of two andesitic-to-dactic volcanic cones, East Matthew and West Matthew, separated by a rocky 200-metre-wide isthmus. The island was discovered by Captain Thomas Gilbert, of , on 27 May 1788, who named it after the owner of his ship. At the time of the discovery, only East Matthew existed and it was described as having only one peak prior to the Second World War. East Matthew is the older part of the island, formed from basalt with a half-destroyed, 142-m-high composite volcanic cone that is thought to be composed of three lava flows. There is still some volcanic activity on the island with sulphuric fumaroles rising from craters in the south-east. West Matthew formed in the late 1940s and may have had eruptions as recent as 1976. It is a roughly circular, -high cone with a serrated peak and is composed almost entirely of lava flows and slag. It contains a crater that is breached to the northwest. A lava flow from West Matthew makes up the northwest coast of the island. Eruptions All known historical eruptions have come from West Matthew. After a highly seismically active period in the 1940s, construction of West Matthew began as submarine eruptions built up a new island. The new cone then emitted lava flows. The eruption was a VEI 2. Another VEI 2 eruption from West Matthew took place in October 1954, while a very small (VEI 0) fissure eruption occurred in approximately 1956. This marks the latest confirmed activity on Matthew Island, although tremors took place near the island in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Uncertainty surrounds a report of an eruption in 1828, as well as reports of eruptions in 1966 and 1976. Important Bird Area The island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports breeding populations of brown boobies and blue noddies. See also Fiji–France Maritime Delimitation Agreement Desert island Lists of islands References Bibliography Dunmore, John: Who's who in Pacific navigation, Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Pr., 1991 Sharp, Andrew: The discovery of the Pacific Islands, Oxford