Taupo Volcanic Zone ( TVZ ) is a volcanic area on the North Island of New Zealand that has been active for the past two million years and continues to be active. The zone includes the Ruapehu volcano and the area northeast of it - the Taupo and Rotorua regions, as well as the coast of the Plenti Bay. The Taupo Zone is part of the larger Central Volcanic Region, active for 4 million years, which extends westward through Plenty Bay up to the eastern part of the Coromandel Peninsula [1] . Taupo volcanic zone is expanding from east to west at a speed of about 8 mm per year. It got its name in honor of Lake Taupo , which is a flooded caldera of the largest volcano in the zone.
Activity
This volcanic zone has a large number of geothermal fields and volcanic vents. The most active volcanoes of the zone are Ruapehu , Ngauruhe , White Island . The largest eruption of the Taupo zone since the Europeans arrived in New Zealand is the eruption of the Taraver volcano in 1886, which killed more than 100 people. The early Maori population could also have been affected by the previous Taravera eruption around 1300 [2] .
The last major eruption of Taupo volcano, the Hatepe eruption , occurred around 230 [3] . An earlier and more powerful eruption of Oruanui , which occurred 26 500-27 100 years BC. e., is the last giant eruption, reaching a maximum of 8 points on the VEI scale . As a result of the eruption, 1170 km³ of volcanic material was erupted [3] .
The main volcanic activity of the other caldera - Rotorua - occurred about 220,000 years ago, the last activity expressed in the eruption of three volcanic domes occurred less than 25,000 years ago [4] .
Another major caldera in the Taupo area is the Maroa caldera, formed about 230,000 years ago. The size of Maroa reaches 16 × 25 km, it contains at least 70 simple and complex volcanic domes [5] .
Notes
- ↑ B. Taylor. Backarc Basins: Tectonics and Magmatism. - Springer Science & Business Media, 2013 .-- P. 524. - ISBN 978-1-4615-1843-3 .
- ↑ D. Lowe. Guidebook for land and lakes field trip . - New Zealand Society of Soil Science, 2006. - S. 50–55.
- ↑ 1 2 Taupo eruption details . bgs.ac.uk. Date of treatment October 12, 2017.
- ↑ Caldera Rotorua : [ eng. ] // Global Volcanism Program . - Smithsonian Institution . - Date of appeal: 12.10.2017.
- ↑ Caldera Maroa : [ eng. ] // Global Volcanism Program . - Smithsonian Institution . - Date of appeal: 10/14/2017.