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New Zealand · Lava dome

Ōkataina Caldera

Okataina

Type
Lava dome
Elevation
1111m
Last eruption
1981
Ōkataina Caldera
Photo: Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Lava dome
Country
New Zealand
Region
Tonga & Kermadec / Taupo Volcanic Arc
Elevation
1111m
Coordinates
-38.157, 176.507
Last eruption
1981
Tectonic setting
Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Cluster
Major rock type
Rhyolite
Geological summary

The massive, dominantly rhyolitic Okataina Volcanic Centre (OVC) is surrounded by extensive ignimbrite and pyroclastic sheets produced during multiple caldera-forming eruptions. Numerous lava domes and craters erupted from two subparallel NE-SW-trending vent lineations form the Haroharo and Tarawera volcanic complexes. Lava domes of the Haroharo complex, at the northern end of the OVC, occupy part of the 16 x 26 km Pleistocene Haroharo caldera, which formed incrementally between 300,000 and 50,000 years before present (BP). The oldest exposed rocks on the caldera floor are about 22,000 years old. The Tarawera complex at the southern end of OVC consists of 11 rhyolitic lava domes and associated lava flows. The oldest domes were formed as late as about 15,000 years BP, and the youngest were formed in the Kaharoa eruption about 800 years BP. The NE-SW Tarawera vent lineation extends from the two dacitic cones of Maungaongaonga and Mangakakaramea on the SW to Mount Edgecumbe on the NE. Construction of the Haroharo and Tarawera complexes impounded lakes Rotoiti, Totoehu, Okataina, and Tarawera against the outer margins of the Okataina ring structure. A major hydrothermal area is located at Waimangu; the world-renowned Pink and White Terrace siliceous sinter deposits were destroyed during the major basaltic explosive eruption of 1886.

Eruption history

31 recordedGlossary
Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions · Use arrow keys to move between bars, Enter to open
8050 BCE~7716 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?7716 BCE~7381 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 56378 BCE~6044 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 55709 BCE~5375 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 03703 BCE~3369 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 52031 BCE~1697 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 41363 BCE~1028 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?360 BCE~25 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 025 BCE~309 · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?978~1312 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 51647~1981 · 21 eruptions · max VEI 58050 BCE5709 BCE3034 BCE694 BCE1647

Detailed timeline

  1. 1981VEI 1Observed
    1981-05-16 – 1981-05-16
    Waimangu (Raupo Pond crater)
  2. 1978VEI 1Observed
    1978-02-23 – 1978-02-23
    Waimangu (Raupo Pond, Inferno Crater)
  3. 1973VEI 1Observed
    1973-02-22 – 1973-02-22
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  4. 1951VEI 1Observed
    1951-06-16 – end unknown
    Rotomahana
  5. 1926VEI 1Observed
    1926-11-17 – 1926-11-18
    Rotomahana
  6. 1924VEI 1Observed
    1924-07-02 – end unknown
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  7. 1918VEI 1Observed
    1918-07-02 – 1920-07-02
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  8. 1917VEI 1Observed
    1917-03-24 – 1917-04-04
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  9. 1915VEI 1Observed
    1915-02-04 – 1915-04-13
    Waimangu (Echo Crater & NW of Fairy Crater)
  10. 1915VEI 1Observed
    1915-11-05 – 1915-11-09
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  11. 1914VEI 1Observed
    1914-01-28 – 1914-02-16
    Waimangu (NW of Fairy Crater)
  12. 1913VEI 1Observed
    1913-01-27 – 1913-01-27
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  13. 1912VEI 1Observed
    1912-04-16 – end unknown
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  14. 1910VEI 1Observed
    1910-07-24 – 1910-07-25
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  15. 1908VEI 1Observed
    1908-10-01 – 1908-10-01
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  16. 1906VEI 1Observed
    1906-02-21 – 1906-02-21
    Waimangu (NW of Fairy Crater)
  17. 1905VEI 1Observed
    1905-02-18 – 1905-02-23
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  18. 1905VEI 1Observed
    1905-06-17 – 1905-06-17
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  19. 1900VEI 1Observed
    1900-01-16 – 1904-11-01
    Waimangu Geyser
  20. 1896VEI 1Observed
    1896-07-02 – end unknown
    Waimangu (Echo Crater)
  21. 1886VEI 5Observed
    1886-06-10 – 1886-08-16
    Tarawera (Wahanga-Waimangu fissure)
  22. 1310 (±12 yrs)VEI 5Geological estimate
    1310 – 1315
    Tarawera (Kaharoa eruption)
  23. 180VEI ?Geological estimate
    180 – end unknown
    Te Kopia thermal area
  24. 300 BCEVEI 0Geological estimate
    300 BCE – end unknown
    Mt. Edgecumbe
  25. 1330 BCE (±75 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    1330 BCE – end unknown
    Mt. Edgecumbe
  26. 1750 BCEVEI 4Geological estimate
    1750 BCE – end unknown
    Haroharo (Rotokawau to Rotoatua)
  27. 3580 BCE (±50 yrs)VEI 5Geological estimate
    3580 BCE – end unknown
    Haroharo (Makatiti and other domes)
  28. 5550 BCEVEI 0Geological estimate
    5550 BCE – end unknown
    Mt. Edgecumbe
  29. 6060 BCE (±50 yrs)VEI 5Geological estimate
    6060 BCE – end unknown
    Haroharo (Te Horoa & other domes)
  30. 7560 BCE (±18 yrs)VEI 5Geological estimate
    7560 BCE – end unknown
    Rotoma caldera, Tuahu, Kawerau
  31. 8050 BCEVEI ?Geological estimate
    8050 BCE – end unknown
    West Rerewhakaaitu fissures

Nearby volcanoes

External links

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