Volcanoes in New Zealand: GNS Science Limited

The links below lead to detailed information on many of New Zealand's volcanoes, covering the eruption histories and hazards. The documents have been formatted for printing.

Kermadec volcanoes
White Island (overview) and
White Island hazard booklet
Waimangu Volcanic Valley
Auckland booklet, ARC hazard facts, and the new ARC Volcanoes site
Taupo volcanic centre
Egmont
Ruapehu
Mayor Island
Okataina Volcanic Centre

New Zealand's Volcanoes (an overview)

The New Zealand area is characterised by both a high density of active volcanoes and a high frequency of eruptions. Volcanic activity in New Zealand occurs in six areas (see figure below), five in the North Island and one offshore in the Kermadec Islands.

Volcanoes in New Zealand are not randomly scattered, but are grouped into areas of more intensive and long-lived activity, whose position (and the composition of the lavas erupted) can be related to the large-scale movement of the tectonic plates in the New Zealand region. Most New Zealand volcanism in the last 1.6 million years has occurred in the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ). The zone is an elongate area that extends from White Island to Ruapehu. The Taupo Volcanic Zone is extremely active on a world scale: it includes three frequently active cone volcanoes (Ruapehu, Tongariro/Ngauruhoe, White Island), and two of the most productive calderas in the world (Okataina and Taupo).

There are three major types of volcano in New Zealand (figure 2):

Volcanic Fields

Volcanic fields such as Auckland and Northland, are where small eruptions occur over a wide geographic area, and are spaced over long periods of time (thousands of years). Each eruption builds a new single new volcano, which does not erupt again. Mount Eden and Rangitoto Island are examples in Auckland.

Cone Volcanoes

Cone volcanoes such as Ruapehu, Egmont and Ngauruhoe are characterised by a succession of small-moderate eruptions from one location. The products from the successive eruptions over thousands of years build the cones.

Caldera Volcanoes

Caldera volcanoes such as Taupo and Okataina (which includes Tarawera) have a history of infrequent but moderate-large eruptions. The caldera forming eruptions create super craters 10-25 km in diameter and deposit cubic kilometres of ash and pumice.

Volcano Hazard Information Booklets

This text is taken from one of a series booklets which cover volcanic hazards at each active or potentially active volcanic centre in New Zealand.

The series was produced by the Volcanic Hazards Working Group of the Civil Defence Scientific Advisory Committee, which includes scientists from the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences and the Universities.

Booklets published in the series so far are:
Number One ‘Egmont Volcano’.
Number Two ‘Okataina Volcanic Centre’.
Number Three ‘White Island’.
Number Four ‘Kermadec Islands’
Number Five ‘Auckland Volcanic Field’
Number Six ‘Mayor Island’
Number Seven "Taupo Volcanic Centre