Vanuatu is an ocean nation in the South Pacific made of approximately 80 island. It hosts more than 20 volcanoes, several of which erupt intermittently.
Ambrym Island is a large basaltic shield volcano in Vanuatu. Fine ashfalls from an eruption in 1953 led to ash contamination of tank water at Santo 130 kilometers from the volcano (Blong, 1984). In a 1999 study Cronin and Sharp (2002) investigated water supplies from ash-affected areas from two volcanoes (Tanna and Ambrym); only samples from Ambrym were found to have excessive Fluorine levels.