⛰️ Mountains of Aotearoa
A short tour of New Zealand's volcanoes and peaks, starting with the biggest one of all.
Taupō, the supervolcano
Lake Taupō, the largest lake in New Zealand, sits inside the caldera of one of the most active supervolcanoes on Earth. The caldera was left behind by a series of enormous eruptions, and the volcano is still active today, which is why it is watched around the clock.
~25,500 yrssince the Ōruanui eruption, the volcano's largest in the last 100,000 years
~1,100 km³of material thrown out by the Ōruanui eruption
~1,800 yearssince the Hatepe eruption (around 232 CE), the most violent in the last 5,000 years
~616 km²surface area of Lake Taupō, up to about 186 m deep
What happened
- Ōruanui eruption (about 25,500 years ago): a super-eruption that blanketed much of the North Island in ash and collapsed the ground to form the caldera that later filled with water.
- Smaller eruptions since: the volcano has erupted more than two dozen times since then, from small lava dome events to explosive eruptions.
- Hatepe eruption (about 232 CE): the most recent big one, with fast-moving pyroclastic flows that flattened forest around the lake and ash that reached as far as Europe and China, according to ice-core and historical records.
Is it dangerous now?
Taupō is monitored by GeoNet (GNS Science) with seismometers, GPS and lake-level instruments. It is normally at Volcanic Alert Level 0, and it has shown periods of unrest, with earthquake swarms and ground movement, without erupting. Scientists note that another eruption is possible at some time in the future, but there is no sign of a large one coming.
Other mountains worth knowing
Ruapehu2,797 m, the highest peak on the North Island and an active volcano with a crater lake.
Taranaki2,518 m, a near-perfect cone on the west coast and a dormant volcano.
Aoraki / Mount Cook3,724 m, the highest mountain in New Zealand, in the Southern Alps.