Matupit Thermal Area

The Matupit Thermal Area is a geothermal feature on the shores of Blanche Bay near Rabaul in East New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea, where the extraordinarily active Rabaul Caldera — one of the world's most historically dangerous volcanoes — produces extensive geothermal activity including submarine hot springs, coastal thermal seeps, and onshore warm spring pools in a landscape dramatically defined by the 1994 twin eruptions of Tavurvur and Vulcan that buried much of Rabaul town under several metres of volcanic ash. The Matupit thermal features are part of the geothermal system of the Rabaul Caldera, which has been the site of some of the Pacific's most destructive volcanic events of the 20th century, and the continuing geothermal activity visible at Matupit Island and along Blanche Bay provides visitors with a constant visceral reminder of the volcanic power that shapes this extraordinary PNG landscape. The setting around Blanche Bay — where dozens of World War II Japanese ships and aircraft rest in accessible shallow-water dive sites — adds a layer of wartime history to what is already one of the Pacific's most geologically dramatic coastal environments.