In New Zealand, alert level rises over ‘super volcano’ Taupo

This is only the first threshold in the alert scale that has five, but for the first time since monitoring began, the Taupo volcano has crossed the threshold. Tuesday, September 20 GeoNet, the organization that examines earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions in New Zealand has been revised upwards Warning for this volcano.

“Ground movements and earthquakes have been going on since May 2022 causing little activity,” The Monitoring Institute writes. More than 700 earthquakes were recorded, at a depth of 4 to 13 kilometers around Lake Taupo. This lake is located in the middle of the North Island in New ZealandIt is actually the old caldera of the volcano. Under the water, the ground rises a few millimeters where one of the magma chambers is located.

“Super volcano” like Yellowstone

Taupo has experienced 17 episodes of moderate activity over the past 150 years. Its last eruption, dating back 1,800 years, was one of the most violent eruptions known to mankind in the last five thousand years. Accounts of the disaster have been found in China and traces of ice cores taken from Antarctica. Historians estimate that 20,000 square kilometers of the island had been destroyed by that time, with a plume reaching more than 35 km in height.

This sinking giant is considered a “super volcano”, as is the American Yellowstone Park: it is able to refuse more than 1,000 kilometers.³ of dust and ash during a large volcanic eruption. These volcanoes spew magma that descends rapidly from their flanks and pull particles that can cover vast areas depending on the wind.

Part of the same volcanic chain, Whakaari Island (White Island in English) is also active, at level 2 on the New Zealand Volcanic Alert Scale. Uninhabited, this area in the north of the North Island has been spitting smoke and ash since last Sunday. In December 2019, Whakaari had already erupted without warning and killed 22 tourists who were visiting the island.