Located in the Lau Basin along the Tonga Trench in the southwest Pacific Ocean, the west Mata volcano is part of a series of submarine volcanoes in the area bordered by Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji.

According to the study of the mineral evolving, origin analysis etc., it is considered that the source of minerals etc mainly comes from the pyritization sources of the submarine volcano eruption.

From the relationship between the landslide area and the surrounding stratum and the history of the volcano eruption, it is suggested that the submarine landslide is triggered by the earthquake.