What’s perhaps lesser known is that between those two massive eruptions, there were sequences of many, much smaller eruptions too. It’s had some enormous eruptions, particularly one about 26,000 years ago, and then one in 232 AD, which were quite devastating eruptions. It’s probably best known as a supervolcano. It’s had a range of different eruption styles over its lifetime. GJ: That earthquake happened in the middle of Taupō, which is a caldera-forming volcano with a lake (Lake Taupō) currently filling its caldera. LF: What happened in the magnitude-5.7 earthquake at Taupō in November? GNS scientists have not even re-turned to the island to service equipment since then. Whakaari/White Island volcano is a popular tourist spot in New Zealand but has not been visited since 22 people died in 2019 when the volcano exploded and caught the tourist group by surprise. And we have volcanic fields, particularly the Auckland volcanic field, on which the city of Auckland is built.Įverything gets thrown at us in some shape or form, which is challenging, but it also gives us a lot of opportunity for learning more about how the Earth works and how we can mitigate those hazards. Then a little bit farther back from there you’ve got Taranaki volcano. We have a line of volcanoes stretching along central North Island, from Ruapehu in the south, all the way up to Whakaari/White Island and then offshore into the Tonga-Kermadec Islands. The subduction zones also mean magma is being produced underneath New Zealand. The star denotes the epicenter of the magnitude-5.7 earthquake that ruptured beneath Lake Taupō. Map of New Zealand showing volcanoes (gray triangles) mentioned in the interview. Between the mountain building, geologically young, soft sediments, and heavy rains we have, that gives rise to earthquakes and landslides. In that “train crash,” there’s a complex fault zone, with the main fault being the Alpine strike-slip fault on South Island. We’ve essentially got a train crash where the two plates are colliding into each other. New Zealand sits between two subduction zones: the Hikurangi Subduction Zone, which is offshore of the North Island, and the Puysegur Subduction Zone off the southern tip of the South Island. We sit on a tectonic plate boundary between the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate, and the boundary basically runs all the way through New Zealand. Gill Jolly (GJ): In New Zealand, we have just about every kind of natural or geological hazard. Laura Fattaruso (LF): Why does New Zealand face so many geologic hazards? Gill Jolly, research leader for the Natural Hazards and Risks theme of GNS Science Te Pū Ao in Aotearoa New Zealand. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. (Editor’s note: Aotearoa is the Māori language name for the country GNS Science Te Pū Ao uses the combined names Aotearoa New Zealand in its communications.) To understand New Zealand’s complicated tectonic setting and the nation’s other geologic hazards, geologist and Temblor Simpson Strong-Tie Writing Fellow Laura Fattaruso chatted with Gill Jolly, research leader for the Natural Hazards and Risks theme of GNS Science Te Pū Ao, the government agency that conducts geological and geophysical monitoring of Aotearoa New Zealand. With 11 confirmed deaths and thousands of people missing, the cyclone has been the deadliest for the country since Cyclone Giselle in 1968. The country declared a state of emergency, incurring over NZ$13 billion in damages. More recently, in February 2023, Cyclone Gabrielle inundated the North Island of New Zealand with heavy rain and wind, causing widespread flooding and subsequent landslides. Cred-it: Dougal Townsend, GNS Science Te Pū Ao. Lake Taupō hosted a magnitude-5.7 earthquake and a small tsunami in November 2022. Then, in November, the quake hit, causing strong ground shaking in the vicinity as well as a small tsunami on the surface of Lake Taupō. For seven months prior, seismic unrest had geologists and the public on alert, with some wondering if the activity was warning of an impending eruption. The supervolcano Taupō lies underneath the lake’s disarmingly tranquil surface its caldera forms part of the lake’s rim. In November 2022, a magnitude-5.7 quake rumbled under Lake Taupō in the North Island of New Zealand. They discuss how the island nation manages the many natural hazards that come with such a beautiful, dynamic landscape.īy Laura Fattaruso, Simpson Strong-Tie Fellow Fattaruso, L., 2023, Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and landslides: How Aotearoa New Zealand manages a medley of hazards, Temblor, Temblor chats with Gill Jolly, research leader for the Natural Hazards and Risks arm of GNS Science Te Pū Ao, the government agency that conducts geological and geophysical monitoring of Aotearoa New Zealand.
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