Where is Taupo Volcanic Zone?
the North Island of New Zealand
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 through the Taupō and Rotorua areas and offshore into the Bay of Plenty.
What makes up the Taupo Volcanic Zone?
The Taupo volcano is part of a group of active volcanoes that make up the Taupo Volcanic Zone, a 40km-wide and 240km-long area in the central North Island. It runs from Ruapehu northeast to White Island, off the Bay of Plenty coast, and on towards the Kermadec Islands.
What type of plate boundary is the Taupo Volcanic Zone?
convergent continental plate boundary
New Zealand has volcanoes because it sits on a convergent continental plate boundary. The North Island’s Taupo Volcanic Zone is one of the most active volcanic regions in the world.
How big is the Taupo Volcanic Zone?
350 kilometres
The Taupo Volcanic Zone is named after Lake Taupo, the largest volcano in the zone. It extends some 350 kilometres from Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe at the southwestern tip, through Taupo, Rotorua and to Whakaari (or White Island).
How many volcanoes are in the Taupo Volcanic Zone?
The Taupo Volcanic Zone is extremely active on a world scale: it includes three frequently active cone volcanoes (Ruapehu, Tongariro/Ngauruhoe, Whakaari/White Island), and two of the most productive calderas in the world (Okataina and Taupo).
How did plate tectonics form the Taupo Volcanic Zone?
Volcanoes often occur at the boundary where two tectonic plates meet. In New Zealand, the Taupō Volcanic Zone (TVZ), extending from Mt Ruapehu through Rotorua to White Island, is the front of a wedge where the Australian and Pacific plates collide.
Can Taupo erupt again?
Many of the major rivers in the North Island still carry large amounts of this pumice when in flood. Most importantly, Taupo shows no signs of being finished—it is extremely likely to erupt again and the timing and scale of its next episode cannot be predicted.
What would happen if Taupo erupted?
“If Taupo were to erupt, we would expect to see major ground deformation and thousands of earthquakes, not hundreds,” Jolly says. White Island’s 2000 eruption followed a long period of activity and is one of “a couple” of eruptions Jolly has seen. Even that eruption, though, was “effectively a burp”, she says.
Is Taupo overdue an eruption?
What is the youngest volcano in New Zealand?
Taupō volcano
Taupō volcano (New Zealand) is distinguished as the source of Earth’s youngest supereruption (∼25.5 ka), with Lake Taupō occupying the resulting caldera.