Mount Gharat (Mount Garet)
Mount Gharat and Lake Letas
Highest point
Elevation	797 m (2,615 ft)[1]
Prominence	797 m (2,615 ft)
Coordinates	14°16′S 167°30′E / 14.27°S 167.5°E / -14.27; 167.5[1]
Geography
Mt Garet, in the middle of Gaua island
Location	Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Geology
Mountain type	Somma-Stratovolcano
Last eruption	2011[1]

Mount Gharat or Mount Garet (797 m), a somma volcano, is the highest peak on the volcanic island of Gaua of the Banks Islands in northern Vanuatu.

Geography

The peak is located at the centre of the island, is volcanically active and is surrounded by Lake Letas on all sides except the southwest.

Name

The volcano has slightly different names, depending on which of the local languages is being considered. It is known as Garet [ɣaˈrɛt] in Nume, Grāt [ɣraːt] in Dorig, Gerät [ɣɛˈrɛ​͡at] in Koro, Gäräs [ɣæˈræs] in Lakon. The spelling Gharat found sometimes on maps is an attempt at transcribing Mota or Olrat Garat [ɣarat].

All these names come from a Proto-Torres-Banks form *ɣarati, whose literal meaning is “itching, burning” ‒ perhaps in relation to the volcano's toxic fumes.

References