"Niuafo'ou island is a basaltic shield volcano once capped by a small composite cone which was largely destroyed during the collapse of a central caldera. The historic eruptions are listed. They are of two sorts: quiet lava effusions from lateral fissures, and explosive eruptions through the caldera lake. The 1946 eruption, which destroyed the town of Angaha, is briefly described. A specimen probably from the underlying ancient shield volcano is olivine basalt, but all specimens of historic flows are basalt with little or no olivine. Niuafo'ou probably belongs to the circum-Pacific group of continental volcanoes."