, image = Lake Rotorua.jpg , caption = Lake Rotorua , alt = Lake Rotorua , image_bathymetry = , pushpin_map=New Zealand#North Island , pushpin_map_alt = Location of Lake Rotorua , pushpin_relief=yes , caption_bathymetry = , location =

Rotorua Lakes Rotorua Lakes District or Rotorua District is a territorial authority district in the North Island of New Zealand. It has one urban area of significant size, the city of Rotorua. The district is governed by Rotorua Lakes Council, which is headq ...

, Bay of Plenty Region, North Island , coords = , type =

crater lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fill ...

, inflow = Utuhina, Hamurana Spring,

Ngongotahā Ngongotahā is a town on the western shores of Lake Rotorua in New Zealand's North Island. It is 10 kilometers northwest of Rotorua city, and is part of the Rotorua metropolitan area. Its population was as of Its name is derived from a legend ...

, outflow =

Ohau Channel Ohau or Ōhau may refer to the following in New Zealand: * Ben Ohau, a mountain in the South Island * Ben Ohau Range * Lake Ōhau * Lake Ohau Alpine Village * Ōhau River (Canterbury) * Ōhau River (Manawatū-Whanganui) * Ohau (skifield) * Ohau A ...

, catchment = , basin_countries = New Zealand , length = , width = , area = , depth = , max-depth = , volume = , residence_time = , shore = , elevation = , islands =

Mokoia Island __NOTOC__ Mokoia Island is located in Lake Rotorua in New Zealand. It has an area of 1.35 square kilometres. The uninhabited island is a rhyolite lava dome, rising to 180 metres above the lake surface. It was formed after the Rotorua caldera c ...

, cities = Rotorua , reference = Lake Rotorua ( mi, Te Rotorua nui ā Kahumatamomoe) is the second largest

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in the North Island of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

by surface area, and covers 79.8 km². With a mean depth of only 10 metres it is considerably smaller than nearby Lake Tarawera in terms of volume of water. It is located within the

Rotorua Caldera The Rotorua Caldera, now in filled with Lake Rotorua, is a large rhyolitic caldera. It is one of several large volcanoes located in the Taupō Volcanic Zone on the North Island of New Zealand. Geography The major regional settlement of Rotor ...

in the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

region.

Geography

Lake Rotorua is fed with water from a number of rivers and streams; some such as the Utuhina flow water of a water temperature warmer than the lake due to the thermal activity in the Rotorua area. Conversely streams on the northern shore such as the Hamurana Spring and the Awahou stream flow crystal clear water that has a constant temperature of 10 degrees Celsius. Other notable tributaries include the

stream, famous for

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

fishing.

Geology

The lake was formed from the crater of a large

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

in the Taupo Volcanic Zone. Its last major eruption was about 240,000 years ago. After the eruption, the

magma chamber A magma chamber is a large pool of liquid rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The molten rock, or magma, in such a chamber is less dense than the surrounding country rock, which produces buoyant forces on the magma that tend to drive it up ...

underneath the volcano collapsed. The circular depression left behind is the

, which is the site of the lake. Several other lakes of volcanic origin are located nearby to the east, around the base of the active volcano

Mount Tarawera Mount Tarawera is a volcano on the North Island of New Zealand within the older but volcanically productive Ōkataina Caldera. Located 24 kilometres southeast of Rotorua, it consists of a series of rhyolitic lava domes that were fissu ...

, close to the centre of the lake, is a rhyolite dome. It is probably New Zealand's best-known lake island, and is closely associated with one of the best-known

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

legends, that of Hinemoa and Tutanekai. Is said that Hinemoa swam across the lake to her lover Tutanekai who lived on Mokoia Island. Owing to the geothermal activity around the lake (including still active geysers and hot mud pools), the lake has a high sulphur content. This gives the lake's waters an unusual yellowish-green hue.

Tourist attraction

Despite the large volume of water flowing through Lake Rotorua its shallow depth makes it very prone to discolouration, especially from sediment following windy weather. It is well used by fishermen, but less popular with watersports participants and swimmers. Lake Rotorua flows directly into Lake Rotoiti via the

at the north eastern corner of the lake; this channel is navigable by boat and is also favoured by fly fishermen. The Ohau channel joins at the Mourea delta, an area with very low water levels. This area is frequented by novice kayakers and swimmers. Nearby is the ancestral land of the

Ngati Pikiao ''Ngati'' is a 1987 New Zealand feature film directed by Barry Barclay, written by Tama Poata and produced by John O'Shea. Production ''Ngati'' is of historical and cultural significance in New Zealand as it is the first feature film written an ...

hapu of the

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka'').Kaituna River The Kaituna River is in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the outflow from Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti, and flows northwards for , emptying into the Bay of Plenty near Te Puke. It was the subject of a claim concer ...

into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

near

Maketu Maketu is a small town on the Bay of Plenty Coast in New Zealand. Maketu is located in the Western Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Maketu has an estuary from which the Kaituna River used to flow. It is also adjacent to Newdicks Beach located on t ...

; the rapid descent from over 900 feet above sea level in less than 20 km has created an area used for extreme kayaking and white water rafting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotorua, Lake Tourist attractions in Rotorua Taupō Volcanic Zone Lakes of the Bay of Plenty Region Volcanic crater lakes

Geography

Geology

Tourist attraction

See also

References