The eruption of Ritter Island resulted in a massive lateral collapse of the volcano, the largest ever recorded in historical times. There were no detected precursor events that led up to this event. About of material making up the summit of the island, was deposited northwest. Its volume was almost two times greater than that of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The only remnants of the volcano above sea level are a crescent-shaped island and a small islet near its southern tip. As the summit had entirely collapsed, the height of the island was greatly reduced to just , from .