Taupō supervolcano and caldera Taupō hūnga kerekere me he tawhā
Our biggest volcano isn’t a cone. It’s Lake Taupō, formed about 25,500 years ago in the massive Ōruanui eruption.
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Ehara i te kōeko te puia nui rawa o tēnei whenua. Ko Taupō he roto kē, i āhua mai i te 25,500 tau ki mua, he mahi atua e kīia ana ko te pahūtanga o Ōruanui.
Taupō caldera
The huge eruption spat out so much magma that the ground collapsed kilometres downward and left a caldera – a gigantic collapsed block of land – in its wake. Water filled the hole, and Lake Taupō was formed.
Watch a reconstruction of this event below.
Taupō supervolcano – Ōruanui eruption, 25,500 years ago
Reference landscape image courtesy of LINZ. CC BY 4.0, Rūaumoko illustration by Ben Te Aika
Volcano factory
The Pacific Plate plunges beneath the eastern North Island, 4cm every year. ...
The huge eruption spat out so much magma that the ground collapsed kilometres downward and left a caldera – a gigantic collapsed block of land – in its wake. Water filled the hole, and Lake Taupō was formed.
Watch a reconstruction of this event below.
Taupō supervolcano – Ōruanui eruption, 25,500 years ago
Reference landscape image courtesy of LINZ. CC BY 4.0, Rūaumoko illustration by Ben Te Aika
Volcano factory
The Pacific Plate plunges beneath the eastern North Island, 4cm every year. Pressure builds. Rock melts. Hot magma rises and feeds a long chain of volcanoes.
The Earth’s crust is unusually thin in the Taupō Volcanic Zone. Magma gets close to the surface – and sometimes breaks through. Every now and then, huge eruptions leave giant holes in the landscape.
Heaps of magma and falling ash
The volume of erupted material was 8–9 times the volume of water in Lake Taupō today.
Volcanic material filled the air. Most fell on the North Island, but some landed as far away as the Chatham Islands.
How much ash fell?
Ahuriri | Napier 2m
Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa | Gisborne 1.2m
Whakatāne 1m
Te Papaioea | Palmerston North 50cm
Tauranga 40cm
Pōneke | Wellington 20cm
Rēkohu/Wharekauri | Chatham Islands 18cm
Ngāmotu | New Plymouth 15cm
Still active
After an eruption in the central North Island, volcanic ash could cover the entire island and beyond.
Since Ōruanui, there’ve been 28 smaller eruptions of Taupō. No super eruption will happen in your lifetime – the magma takes too long to build.
Thanks to monitoring by GNS Science, we can expect some warning before the next one.
Taupō is a global star – the world’s most active supervolcano. It’s studied by scientists everywhere.
More about the realm of Rūaumoko, god of volcanoes and earthquakes, and the geological forces that shape our shaky land can be found in Te Taiao | Nature on Level 2.
Nā te nui rawa o te tokarewa i tuhaina atu e te puia ka whenuku te whenua e hia manomita ki raro, nō te tatūnga o te puehu, mahue mai ana he tawhā – he poka tōrere nui. Ka rere ko te wai ki roto, ka takoto mai ko Taupō-nui-a-Tia. Tirohia te kiriata i raro.
Taupō supervolcano – Ōruanui eruption, 25,500 years ago
Reference landscape image courtesy of LINZ. CC BY 4.0, Rūaumoko illustration by Ben Te Aika
Te kōpū whakarewa o Hinepuia
Ka urupou atu te Papaneke o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa...
Nā te nui rawa o te tokarewa i tuhaina atu e te puia ka whenuku te whenua e hia manomita ki raro, nō te tatūnga o te puehu, mahue mai ana he tawhā – he poka tōrere nui. Ka rere ko te wai ki roto, ka takoto mai ko Taupō-nui-a-Tia. Tirohia te kiriata i raro.
Taupō supervolcano – Ōruanui eruption, 25,500 years ago
Reference landscape image courtesy of LINZ. CC BY 4.0, Rūaumoko illustration by Ben Te Aika
Te kōpū whakarewa o Hinepuia
Ka urupou atu te Papaneke o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa ki raro i te taha rāwhiti o Te Ika-a-Māui, e 4cm i ia tau.
Te kaha o te pēhanga. E rewa ana te toka. Ka piki haere te tokarewa. Ko ngā tini waha e pehu mai ai te tokarewa ki waho, ko ia ko Hinepuia.
I ētahi wā, nā ngā pahūtanga nui, pehua ana mai he poka tōrere i te mata o te horanuku.
Te nui o te tokarewa me he pungarehu rere
Ko te nui o te para i te pupuhatanga mai e 8–9 whakarea te rahi o te wai o Taupō i tēnei rā.
Ka para katoa te rangi i te wā o te hūnga. Ko te nuinga o te pungarehu i tau ki Te Ika-a-Māui, engari i tau atu ētahi ki Rēkohu/Wharekauri rā anō.
E hia te nui o te para i taka?
Ahuriri 2m
Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa 1.2m
Whakatāne 1m
Te Papaioea 50cm
Tauranga 40cm
Pōneke | Te Whanganui-a-kiwa 20cm
Rēkohu/Wharekauri 18cm
Ngāmotu 15cm
Kei te ora tonu
Tērā pea ka taupokina katoatia Te Ika-a-Māui, ki tua atu hoki, ki te pungarehu i muri i tētahi hū.
Mai i te Ōruanui, tērā e 28 ngā hūnga iti ki Taupō. E kore rawa e kitea he hūnga nui kerekere i tō oranga – he roa rawa te wā kia nui haere te tokarewa.
Ngā mihi rā, nā te aro turukitanga a GNS Science, ko te tikanga ia he whakatūpato te homaitanga i mua i te rū anō.
Ko Taupō te tino puia hautipua ora o te ao e mātaihia ana e ngā kaipūtaiao huri noa i te ao.
Find out more about the realm of Rūaumoko, god of volcanoes and earthquakes, and explore the geological forces that shape our shaky land in Te Taiao | Nature.
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