The volcanism of New Zealand has been responsible for many of the country's geographical features, especially in the
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
and
the country's outlying islands.
While the land's
volcanism
Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called ...
dates back to before the
Zealandia microcontinent
rifted away from
Gondwana
Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...
60–130 million years ago, activity continues today with minor eruptions occurring every few years. This recent activity is primarily due to the country's position on the boundary between the
Indo-Australian all of this entry re immigration is a complete fabrication
Indian Australians or Indo-Australians are Australians of Indian ancestry. This includes both those who are Australian by birth, and those born in India or elsewhere in the Indian d ...
and
Pacific Plate
The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate.
The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...
s, a part of the
Pacific Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many Types of volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruptions and ...
, and particularly the
subduction
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...
of the Pacific Plate under the Indo-Australian Plate.
New Zealand's rocks record examples of almost every kind of volcanism observed on Earth, including some of
the world's largest eruptions in geologically recent times.
None of the
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
's volcanoes are active.
Major eruptions
New Zealand has been the site of many large explosive eruptions during the last two million years, including several of
supervolcano
A supervolcano is a volcano that has had an eruption with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 8, the largest recorded value on the index. This means the volume of deposits for such an eruption is greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic ...
size. These include eruptions from
Macauley Island
Macauley Island is a volcanic island in New Zealand's Kermadec Islands, approximately halfway between New Zealand's North Island and Tonga in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It is part of a larger submarine volcano that features a wide underwa ...
and the
Taupō,
Whakamaru,
Mangakino,
Reporoa
Reporoa is a rural community in Rotorua Lakes within the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island.
It is located within the Reporoa Caldera, a caldera in the Taupo Volcanic Zone containing the Deer Hill, Kairuru and Pukekahu rhyolitic l ...
,
Rotorua
Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...
, and
Haroharo caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
s.
Two relatively recent eruptions from the
Taupō Volcano are perhaps the best known. Its
Oruanui eruption was the world's largest known eruption in the past 70,000 years, with a
Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 8. It occurred around 26,500 years ago and deposited approximately 1,200 km³ of material.
Tephra
Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism.
Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they rem ...
from the eruption covered much of the central North Island with
ignimbrite up to 200 metres (650 feet) deep, and most of New Zealand was affected by
ash fall, with even an 18 cm (7 inch) ash layer left on the
Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about te ...
, away. Later erosion and sedimentation had long-lasting effects on the landscape, causing the
Waikato River to shift from the
Hauraki Plains to its current course through the Waikato to the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...
. New Zealand's largest lake,
Lake Taupō
Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; mi, Taupō-nui-a-Tia or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of the Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's nor ...
, fills the
caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
formed in this eruption.
Taupō's most recent major
eruption, the Taupō or
Hatepe eruption
The Hatepe eruption, named for the Hatepe Plinian pumice tephra layer, sometimes referred to as the Taupō eruption or Horomatangi Reef Unit Y eruption, is dated to 232 CE ± 10 and was Taupō Volcano's most recent major eruption. It is thoug ...
, took place around 232 CE, and is New Zealand's largest eruption since Oruanui.
It ejected some 120 km³ of material (rating 7 on the VEI scale), with around 30 km³ ejected in just a few minutes. It is believed that the eruption column was high, twice as high as the eruption column from
Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens (known as Lawetlat'la to the indigenous Cowlitz people, and Loowit or Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat) is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United St ...
in 1980. This makes it one of the most violent eruptions in the last 5000 years (alongside the
Tianchi eruption
The 946 eruption of Paektu Mountain in Korea and China, also known as the Millennium Eruption or Tianchi eruption, was one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history and is classified as a VEI-7 event. The eruption resulted in a ...
of
Baekdu at around 1000 and the 1815 eruption of
Tambora). The resulting
ash
Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
turned the sky red over Rome and China.
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 fissured d ...
's eruption around 1310 CE, while not nearly as large, was still substantial, producing 2.5 km³ of
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
and 5 km³ of tephra (VEI 5).
Because its deposits, stretching from
Gisborne to the
Bay of Islands, were emplaced around the time that
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 ...
permanently settled New Zealand, they have provided a useful archaeological marker. Tarawera erupted again on 10 June 1886, spewing ash and debris over , destroying the
Pink and White Terraces
The Pink and White Terraces ( and ), were natural wonders of New Zealand. They were reportedly the largest silica sinter deposits on earth. Until recently, they were lost and thought destroyed in the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera, while new hy ...
and three villages, including
Te Wairoa, and claiming the lives of perhaps 120 people. Approximately 2 km³ of tephra was erupted (VEI 5).
Hazards
As well as the direct effects of explosions,
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
, and
pyroclastic flow
A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of bu ...
s, volcanoes pose various hazards to the New Zealand populace. These include
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
s, break-out floods and
lahar
A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley.
Lahars are extreme ...
s from volcanically dammed lakes,
ashfall
The Ashfall Fossil Beds of Antelope County in northeastern Nebraska are rare fossil sites of the type called lagerstätten that, due to extraordinary local conditions, capture an ecological "snapshot" in time of a range of well-preserved fossil ...
, and other far field effects.
For instance, the
Tangiwai disaster occurred on 24 December 1953 when the Tangiwai railway bridge across the Whangaehu River collapsed from a
lahar
A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley.
Lahars are extreme ...
in full flood, just before an express train was about to cross it. The train could not stop in time, and 151 people died. This was ultimately caused by Ruapehu's 1945 eruption, which had emptied the
crater lake and dammed the outlet with tephra.
Effects can be widespread even for eruptions of only moderate size. Ash plumes from Ruapehu's 1996 eruption forced the closure of eleven airports, including
Auckland International Airport.
Insurance against volcanic damage (along with other natural disasters) is provided by the country's
Earthquake Commission
The Earthquake Commission, ( mi, Kōmihana Rūwhenua), is a New Zealand Crown entity that invests in natural disaster research and education as well as providing natural disaster insurance to residential property owners. In March 2022, a bill ...
.
Cultural references
The
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 ...
had many myths and legends regarding the land's volcanic mountains. Perhaps the most well known regards the relative locations of
Taranaki
Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont.
The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...
,
Tongariro and
Pihanga
Pihanga is a andesitic volcanic peak in the North Island Volcanic Plateau, located to the north of Mount Tongariro, between Tongariro and Lake Taupo. Lake Rotoaira lies to the south-west of Pihanga, and the smaller Lake Rotopounamu is situated ...
. It holds that the two first-named volcanoes competed for the love of the beautiful Pihanga and, after Tongariro succeeded, the defeated Taranaki moved to its lonely location near
New Plymouth
New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...
.
Another legend recounts the exploits of
Ngātoro-i-rangi
In Māori tradition, Ngātoro-i-rangi (Ngātoro) is the name of a tohunga (priest) prominent during the settling of New Zealand ( Aotearoa) by the Māori people, who came from the traditional homeland Hawaiki on the '' Arawa'' canoe. He is the an ...
, a tohunga (priest) who arrived from the ancestral Māori homeland, Hawaiki, on the
Arawa waka (canoe). Travelling inland and then looking southward from
Lake Taupō
Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; mi, Taupō-nui-a-Tia or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of the Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's nor ...
, he decided to climb the mountains he saw there. He reached and began to climb the first mountain along with his slave Ngāuruhoe, who had been travelling with him, and named the mountain Tongariro (the name literally means 'looking south'), whereupon the two were overcome by a blizzard carried by the cold south wind.
Near death, Ngātoro-i-rangi called back to his two sisters, Kuiwai and Haungaroa, who had also come from Hawaiki but remained on
Whakaari / White Island
Whakaari / White Island (, mi, Te Puia Whakaari, lit. "the dramatic volcano"), also known as White Island or Whakaari, is an active andesite stratovolcano situated from the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, in the Bay of Plent ...
, to send him sacred fire, which they had brought from Hawaiki. This they did, sending the fire in the form of two
taniwha (powerful spirits) named Te Pupu and Te Haeata by a subterranean passage to the top of Tongariro. The tracks of these two taniwha formed the line of geothermal fire that extends from the Pacific Ocean and beneath the Taupō Volcanic Zone, and is seen in the many volcanoes and
hot spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
s extending from Whakaari to Tokaanu and up to the Tongariro massif. The fire arrived just in time to save Ngātoro-i-rangi from freezing to death, but Ngāuruhoe had already died by the time Ngātoro-i-rangi turned to give him the fire. For this reason the hole through which the fire ascended, the active cone of Tongariro, is now called Ngauruhoe.
Eruptions in the North Island, such as the Kaharoa eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1314, have been used to help determine the approximate date of arrival of the early Polynesian colonists to about 1280. Fossilized footprints of perhaps second- or third-generation Polynesian colonists have been found in volcanic ash on islands in the Hauraki Gulf.
Volcanic areas
While there are remnants of volcanic activity throughout most of New Zealand, there are several areas where they are more obvious, and somewhere activity continues. Since Taranaki's last activity in 1854, all eruptions have been in the Taupō Volcanic Zone or the Kermadec Arc.
Kermadec Arc
The
Kermadec Islands are an active volcanic
island arc stretching north-northeast from New Zealand's North Island towards Tonga. While only a few volcanoes in the arc are tall enough to form islands, it includes about 30 sizeable
submarine volcano
Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...
es with many in the
South Kermadec Ridge Seamounts
The South Kermadec Ridge Seamounts are a continuation of the volcanic island arc, formed at the convergent boundary where the Pacific Plate subducts under the Indo-Australian Plate. The subducting Pacific Plate created the Kermadec Trench, the s ...
at the New Zealand end of the chain. The largest island,
Raoul Island, produced a large eruption around 2200 years ago with a VEI of 6. Its activity has continued intermittently since, with its latest eruption occurring in 2006.
Northland
The
Northland region contains two recently active
volcanic field
A volcanic field is an area of Earth's crust that is prone to localized volcanic activity. The type and number of volcanoes required to be called a "field" is not well-defined. Volcanic fields usually consist of clusters of up to 100 volcanoes ...
s, one centered around
Whangarei, and the other is the
Kaikohe-Bay of Islands volcanic field
The recently active basaltic Kaikohe-Bay of Islands volcanic field in the Northland Region of New Zealand is associated geographically with an older region of extinct volcanism to its north the Wairakau Volcanic Centre, meaning eruptions in this ...
.
The latest activity in the Kaikohe-Bay of Islands field, around 1300 to 1800 years ago, created four
scoria cones at
Te Puke
Te Puke is a town located 18 kilometres southeast of Tauranga in the Western Bay of Plenty of New Zealand. It is particularly well-known for the cultivation of Kiwifruit.
Te Puke is close to Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, Papamoa, and Maketu, whi ...
(near
Paihia
Paihia is the main tourist town in the Bay of Islands in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is 60 kilometres north of Whangārei, located close to the historic towns of Russell and Kerikeri. Missionary Henry William ...
).
Earlier, during the
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
, a mainly
andesitic volcanic arc ran through Northland and neighbouring regions (including the
Three Kings Ridge
The Three Kings Ridge, sometimes known as Three Kings Rise and more rarely at its southern end as the Three Kings Bank is a deep sea westward facing volcanic arc of Zealandia continental crust extending from northwest of Cape Reinga / Te Rereng ...
and northern Coromandel Peninsula), with western and eastern belts active between 25 and 15 million years ago and 23–11 million years ago respectively. Although this produced substantial volcanic edifices, including New Zealand's largest known
stratovolcano
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...
, the
Waitakere volcano, most of these have been eroded away, buried, or submerged, especially in the west, where a series of volcanoes buried offshore stretches south almost to
New Plymouth
New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...
. This is called the Northland-Mohakatino Volcanic Belt.
Remnants of these two ancient volcano belts are still exposed in many places, including
Whangarei Heads, the
Hen and Chickens Islands
The Hen and Chicken Islands (usually known collectively as the ''Hen and Chickens'') lie to the east of the North Auckland Peninsula off the coast of northern New Zealand. They lie east of Bream Head and south-east of Whangarei with a total ...
, around
Whangaroa Harbour,
Waipoua forest, and the
Waitākere Ranges.
Auckland volcanic field
The
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
ic
Auckland volcanic field
The Auckland volcanic field is an area of monogenetic volcanoes covered by much of the metropolitan area of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, located in the North Island. The approximately 53 volcanoes in the field have produced a diverse a ...
is a
monogenetic volcanic field underlying much of the
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
metropolitan area. The field's many vents have produced a diverse array of explosion craters,
scoria cones, and
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
flows. The largest and most recent is
Rangitoto
Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand. The wide island is a symmetrical shield volcano cone, reaching a height of . Rangitoto is the youngest and largest of the approximately 50 volcanoes of the Au ...
in the
Hauraki Gulf, which last erupted 600–700 years ago. Currently
dormant, the field is likely to erupt again within the next "hundreds to thousands of years" (based on past events), a short timeframe in geologic terms.
[Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner (2002). ]
Contingency Plan for the Auckland volcanic field
', Auckland Regional Council
The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The AR ...
Technical Publication 165. Accessed 12 May 2008. Auckland's residents, however, face more danger from volcanoes farther south.
Auckland's volcanoes are believed to be the latest product of an unusual magma source related to local
tectonics
Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents k ...
which is not a classic
hot spot
Hotspot, Hot Spot or Hot spot may refer to:
Places
* Hot Spot, Kentucky, a community in the United States
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Hot Spot (comics), a name for the DC Comics character Isaiah Crockett
* Hot Spot (Tra ...
, as the earlier volcanic fields are to the south, the opposite expected from movement of the Australian plate over a stationary mantle plume source.
Waikato and South Auckland
Three volcanic fields erupted between 2.7 and 0.5 million years ago, migrating northwards from
Mount Pirongia
Mount Pirongia is an extinct stratovolcano located in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It rises to 959 metres and is the highest peak in the Waikato region. It was active in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene times. ...
to the
Bombay Hills
The Bombay Hills are a range of hills to the south of Auckland, New Zealand. Though only a small and seemingly insignificant range of hills, they lie at the southern boundary of the Auckland region, and serve as a divide between Auckland and th ...
. The earliest of these fields formed the
Alexandra Volcanics which is distinguished by large arc volcano
tholeiitic cones but did have associated
Okete Volcanics which were traditionally more akaline and oxidised and were in the
monogenetic volcanic field pattern seen in the later fields. The distinction between the Alexandra and Okete volcanics is not necessarily clear cut and is still being studied.
Alexandra Volcanic Group
The Alexandra Volcanic Group (also known as Alexandra volcanic lineament or Alexandra Volcanics) is a chain of extinct calc-alkalic basaltic stratovolcanoes that were most active between 2.74 to 1.60 million years ago but is now known to have ha ...
rocks (mostly basalt) cover about 450 km
2 amounting to 55 km
3 from at least 40 vents.
Mount Pirongia
Mount Pirongia is an extinct stratovolcano located in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It rises to 959 metres and is the highest peak in the Waikato region. It was active in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene times. ...
and
Mount Karioi are part of the main
lineament ''See also Line (geometry)''
A lineament is a linear feature in a landscape which is an expression of an underlying geological structure such as a fault. Typically a lineament will appear as a fault-aligned valley, a series of fault or fold-aligne ...
in the group. The later fields are the smallest
Ngatutura Volcanics which comprises about 16 volcanoes south of Port Waikato on the west coast and the
South Auckland volcanic field with over 80 volcanoes. The magma body that created the Auckland volcanic field is considered to have been related to these outpourings also. Unlike typical hot spots such as
the one underlying Hawaii, it does not seem to have stayed still, but instead is migrating northward at a faster pace than the surrounding Indo-Australian Plate. Its motion has been explained as the tip of a propagating crack produced by the twisting of the North Island's crust.
Coromandel Volcanic Zone
The extinct
Coromandel Volcanic Zone
The Coromandel Volcanic Zone (CVZ) is an extinct intraplate volcanic arc stretching from Great Barrier Island in the north, through the Coromandel Peninsula, to the Kaimai Range in the south. The area of transition between it and the newer and s ...
(CVZ) was a volcanic arc stretching from
Great Barrier Island in the north, through the
Coromandel Peninsula, to
Tauranga and the southern
Kaimai Ranges in the south. Activity began in the north around 18 million years ago, and was primarily andesitic until around 9–10 million years ago, when it changed to a bimodal basaltic/rhyolitic pattern. Eruptive centres gradually migrated southward, where they transitioned into early activity in the Taupō Volcanic Zone. Later activity in the CVZ and its interface with the Taupō Volcanic Zone is obscured by subsequent events and is not fully understood, but continued in the south until perhaps 1.5 million years ago in the
Tauranga Volcanic Centre
The Tauranga Volcanic Centre is a geologic region in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty. It extends from the southern end of Waihi Beach and from the old volcanoes of the Coromandel Peninsula that make up the northern part of the Kaimai Range, towards ...
.
Together with the extinct undersea Colville Ridge, the CVZ formed a precursor to the modern Taupō Volcanic Zone and Kermadec Ridge.
Mayor Island / Tūhua
Mayor Island / Tūhua
Mayor Island / Tūhua is a dormant shield volcano located off the Bay of Plenty coast of New Zealand's North Island. It lies north of Tauranga and covers .
Geography
The island is quite steep along its coast and rises to above sea level. A ...
is a
peralkaline shield volcano with a caldera partly formed in a large eruption some 7000 years ago. It has exhibited many eruptive styles, and its last eruption may have occurred only 500–1000 years ago. The island's Maori name, ''Tuhua'', refers to the obsidian they found on the island and prized for its sharp cutting edge.
Taupō Volcanic Zone
About 350 kilometres long by 50 kilometres wide, the
Taupō Volcanic Zone
The Taupō Volcanic Zone (TVZ) is a volcanic area in the North Island of New Zealand that has been active for the past two million years and is still highly active.
Mount Ruapehu marks its south-western end and the zone runs north-eastward thro ...
(TVZ) is the world's most productive area of recent
silicic
Silicic is an adjective to describe magma or igneous rock rich in silica. The amount of silica that constitutes a silicic rock is usually defined as at least 63 percent. Granite and rhyolite are the most common silicic rocks.
Silicic is the group ...
volcanic activity, with the highest concentration of young
rhyolitic
Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...
volcanoes.
Mount Ruapehu marks its southwestern end, and it continues up through
Ngauruhoe
Mount Ngāuruhoe (also spelled Ngauruhoe; Māori: ''Ngāuruhoe'') is a volcanic cone in New Zealand. It is the youngest vent in the Tongariro stratovolcano complex on the Central Plateau of the North Island and first erupted about 2,500 ...
,
Tongariro,
Lake Taupō
Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; mi, Taupō-nui-a-Tia or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of the Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's nor ...
, the Whakamaru, Mangakino, Maroa,
Reporoa
Reporoa is a rural community in Rotorua Lakes within the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island.
It is located within the Reporoa Caldera, a caldera in the Taupo Volcanic Zone containing the Deer Hill, Kairuru and Pukekahu rhyolitic l ...
, and
Rotorua
Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...
caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
s, the Okataina Volcanic Complex (including
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 fissured d ...
) and 85 kilometres beyond
Whakaari / White Island
Whakaari / White Island (, mi, Te Puia Whakaari, lit. "the dramatic volcano"), also known as White Island or Whakaari, is an active andesite stratovolcano situated from the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, in the Bay of Plent ...
to the submarine
Whakatāne Seamount. The TVZ also contains numerous smaller volcanoes, along with
geyser
A geyser (, ) is a spring characterized by an intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. As a fairly rare phenomenon, the formation of geysers is due to particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in ...
s and
geothermal areas. Volcanic eruptions began here around two million years ago, with silicic eruptions starting around 1.55 million years ago, as activity shifted southeast from the Coromandel Volcanic Zone.
Taranaki
Volcanism in the
Taranaki
Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont.
The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...
region has migrated southeastward during the last two million years. Beginning in the
Sugar Loaf Islands
The Sugar Loaf Islands (often Sugarloaf; mi, Ngā Motu, ) are a collection of five small uninhabited islands and several sea stacks near Port Taranaki, New Zealand.
The largest, Moturoa Island, covers approximately . Motumahanga is the island fu ...
, near
New Plymouth
New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...
, activity then shifted to
Kaitake (580,000 years ago) and
Pouakai (230,000 years ago) before creating the large stratovolcano called
Mount Taranaki, (former name Mount Egmont), which last erupted in 1854, and its satellite vent, Fanthams Peak.
This southeastward migration is the continuation of the 25 million year activity of the Northland-Mohakatino Volcanic Belt that extends mainly under the present
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...
from the west of Northland down to
Mount Taranaki.
[
]
Chatham Islands
The higher portions of the Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about te ...
are formed from volcanic rock that is up to 81 million years old, although lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
flows on the northern shore of Chatham Island date back only about five million years.[K. S. Panter, J. Blusztajn, S. R. Hart, P. R. Kyle, R. Esser, W. C. McIntosh (2006)]
The Origin of HIMU in the SW Pacific: Evidence from Intraplate Volcanism in Southern New Zealand and Subantarctic Islands
/ref>
Banks Peninsula
Banks Peninsula
Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an area of approximately and encompasses two large harbours and many smaller bays and coves. The South Island's largest cit ...
comprises the eroded remnants of two large stratovolcanoes, Lyttelton, which formed first, and Akaroa. These formed by intraplate volcanism through continental crust approximately eleven to eight million years ago (Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
). The peninsula formed as offshore islands, with the volcanoes reaching to about 1,500 m above sea level. Two dominant craters were eroded, then flooded, to form the Lyttelton and Akaroa
Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand, situated within a harbour of the same name. The name Akaroa is Kāi Tahu Māori for "Long Harbour", which would be spelled in standard ...
Harbours. The portion of crater rim lying between Lyttelton Harbour and Christchurch city forms the Port Hills
The Port Hills are a range of hills in Canterbury Region, so named because they lie between the city of Christchurch and its port at Lyttelton. They are an eroded remnant of the Lyttelton volcano, which erupted millions of years ago.
The hi ...
.
Oamaru
Small Surtseyan volcanoes on the submerged continental shelf
A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...
formed the Waiareka-Deborah volcanic group in the area around Oamaru
Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the railway ...
around 35 to 30 million years ago.
Southern Alps
The Alpine Dyke Swarm of volcanic intusion took place about 25 million years ago and is located near Lake Wanaka
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 larger ...
in the Southern Alps.
Dunedin
The Dunedin Volcano
The Dunedin Volcano is an extensively eroded multi-vent shield volcano that was active between 16 and 10 million years ago. It originally extended from the modern city of Dunedin, New Zealand to Aramoana about 25 km away. Extensive erosion has o ...
formed during the Miocene, beginning with basaltic eruptions on the Otago Peninsula. Large central-vent structures formed, and then large domes, with seawater interacting explosively with erupting submarine magma.
Solander Islands
The Solander Islands
The Solander Islands / Hautere are three uninhabited volcanic islets toward the western end of the Foveaux Strait just beyond New Zealand's South Island. The Māori name ''Hautere'' translates into English as "flying wind". The islands lie so ...
, a small chain of uninhabited islets close to the western end of the Foveaux Strait
The Foveaux Strait, (, or , ) separates Stewart Island, New Zealand's third largest island, from the South Island. The strait is about 130 km long (from Ruapuke Island to Little Solander Island), and it widens (from 14 km at Ruapuk ...
, are the emergent portions of a large extinct andesitic volcano that last erupted around 150,000 to 400,000 years ago. Caused by the subduction of the Australian Plate beneath the Pacific Plate, it is the only volcano associated with this subduction zone that protrudes above the sea.
Subantarctic islands
The majority of New Zealand's widely separated subantarctic islands are primarily volcanic in origin, including Auckland Island, Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku, and Antipodes Island
In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points ''antipodal'' () to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Ear ...
. These are mainly Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
intraplate volcanoes with ages decreasing towards the northeast, although Antipodes Island may have been active during the last 20,000 years.
Older volcanism
Older remnants of volcanism are also found in several places around New Zealand. These were generally formed either when New Zealand still formed part of the Gondwana
Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...
supercontinent, or while Zealandia was rifting away from the rest of Gondwana, although some have been emplaced in their current setting more recently. (New Zealand is the main part of the submerged microcontinent of Zealandia that currently emerges above the sea.)
A band of granitic intrusions covering over 10,000 km2, the Median Batholith, stretches from Stewart Island / Rakiura through Fiordland, and again through the West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
and Nelson after interruption by the Alpine Fault. This was produced between 375 and 105 million years ago in the course of subduction-related volcanism in a long mountain range along the Gondwanan coast somewhat like today's Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
. Two more batholith
A batholith () is a large mass of intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than in area, that forms from cooled magma deep in Earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock types, such ...
s, the Karamea-Paparoa and Hohonu Batholiths, are also found on the West Coast.
Basaltic lava flows, dike
Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to:
General uses
* Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian"
* Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment
* Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice
* Dikes, ...
s, and tuff from fissure eruptions between 100 million and 66 million years ago, during Zealandia's separation from Gondwana, are found in Marlborough
Marlborough may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
** Marlborough College, public school
* Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England
* The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England
Austral ...
, the West Coast and offshore further west. Ultramafic intrusions are found in Marlborough and north Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
, including at the summit of Tapuae-o-Uenuku, the country's highest mountain outside the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana
The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern ...
.
Rhyolitic ignimbrite from 85 million years ago is found in Otago
Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...
at Shag Point / Matakaea
Shag Point / Matakaea is a headland and township in East Otago, New Zealand.
It is located close to State Highway 1 nine kilometres to the northeast of Palmerston, at the southern end of a long open bay known as Katiki Beach. The point itself ...
and in the Kakanui Mountains
The Kakanui Range is a range of high hills located inland from Oamaru in the South Island of New Zealand. The range forms a boundary between the valley of the Waitaki River to the north and the high plateau known as the Maniototo and the upper w ...
.
The Hikurangi Plateau is an oceanic plateau
An oceanic or submarine plateau is a large, relatively flat elevation that is higher than the surrounding relief with one or more relatively steep sides.
There are 184 oceanic plateaus in the world, covering an area of or about 5.11% of the ...
on the Pacific Plate that attached to the Chatham Ridge after being partially subducted under it, and is now subducting under the North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
. It likely formed in one of the world's largest volcanic outpourings, the greater Ontong Java event.
Ophiolites, volcanic deposits from the ocean floor, have been incorporated into the continental basement of New Zealand in the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt, found at both ends of the South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
, and in Northland.
See also
* Geothermal areas in New Zealand
Located in a geologically active region, New Zealand has numerous geothermal features, including volcanoes, hot springs, geysers and volcanic lakes. Many of these features cluster together geographically, notably throughout the central North Isl ...
* List of disasters in New Zealand by death toll
This is a list of New Zealand disasters by death toll, listing major disasters (excluding acts of war) which occurred in New Zealand and its territories or involved a significant number of New Zealand citizens, in a specific incident, where the ...
* List of earthquakes in New Zealand
This is a list of large earthquakes that have occurred in New Zealand. Only earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.0 or greater are listed, except for a few that had a moderate impact. Aftershocks are not included, unless they were of great signifi ...
* List of volcanoes in Antarctica (for volcanoes in New Zealand's Ross Dependency)
* List of volcanoes in New Zealand
This is a partial list of active, dormant, and extinct volcanoes in New Zealand.
Kermadec Arc and Havre Trough
North Island
Taupō Volcanic Zone
Elsewhere
Mangakino Culdera
South Island
Other
Ross Dependency
New Zealand a ...
Notes
References
* Dench, Alison; ''Essential Dates: A Timeline of New Zealand History'', Auckland: Random House, 2005
External links
Geonet: NZ's geological hazard monitoring system
GNS Science: NZ Government research site
Earthquake Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volcanism Of New Zealand
*
Geographic areas of seismological interest
Articles containing video clips
Back-arc basins
Subduction volcanoes
Volcanic belts
+
Rift volcanoes
Rift volcanism
Volcanoes of New Zealand