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Below is a summary of eruption dates and Volcanic Explosivity Indices (VEI).

The following references are the sources used for data regarding this volcano. References are linked directly to our volcano data file. Discussion of another volcano or eruption (sometimes far from the one that is the subject of the manuscript) may produce a citation that is not at all apparent from the title. Additional discussion of data sources can be found under Volcano Data Criteria.

Cole J W, Brown S J A, Burt R M, Beresford S W, Wilson C J N, 1998. Lithic types in ignimbrites as a guide to the evolution of a caldera complex, Taupo volcanic centre, New Zealand. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 80: 217-237

de Ronde C E J, Stoffers P, Garbe-Schonberg D, Christenson B W, Jones B, Manconi R, Browne P R L, Hissmann K, Botz R, Davy B W, Schmitt M, Battershill C N, 2002. Discovery of active hydrothermal venting in Lake Taupo, New Zealand. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 115: 257-275

Froggatt P C, Lowe D J, 1990. A review of late Quaternary silicic and some other tephra formations from New Zealand: their stratigraphy, nomenclature, distribution, volume, and age. {New Zeal J Geol Geophys}, 33: 89-109

Houghton B F, Carey R C, Cashman K V, Wilson C J N, Hobden B J, Hammer J E, 2010. Diverse patterns of ascent, degassing, and eruption of rhyolite magma during the 1.8 ka Taupo eruption, New Zealand: Evidence from clast vesicularity. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 195: 31-47

Houghton B F, Wilson C J N, 1986. Explosive rhyolite volcanism: the case studies of Mayor Island and Taupo volcanoes (Tour Guide A1). {New Zeal Geol Surv Rec}, 12: 33-100

Kissling W M, Weir G J, 2005. The spatial distribution of the geothermal fields in the Taupo volcanic zone, New Zealand. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 145: 136-150

Lowe D J, Shane P A R, Allowayc B V, Newnham R M, 2008. Fingerprints and age models for widespread New Zealand tephra marker beds erupted since 30,000 years ago: a framework for NZ-INTIMATE. {Quat Sci Rev},

McClelland E, Wilson C J N, Bardot L, 2004. Paleotemperature determinations for the 1.8-ka Taupo ignimbrite, New Zealand, and implications for the emplacement history of a high-velocity pyroclastic flow. {Bull Volc}, 66: 492-513

Nairn I A, Cole J W, 1975. New Zealand. {Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields}, Rome: IAVCEI, 22: 1-156

Shane P, Hoverd J, 2002. Distal record of multi-sourced tephra in Onepoto Basin, Auckland, New Zealand: implications for volcanic chronology, frequency and hazards. {Bull Volc}, 64: 441-454

Smith R T, Houghton B F, 1995. Vent migration and changing eruptive style during the 1800a Taupo eruption: new evidence from the Hatepe and Rotongaio phreatoplinian ashes. {Bull Volc}, 57: 432-439

Smith V C, Shane P, Nairn I A, 2005. Trends in rhyolite geochemistry, mineralogy, and magma storage during the last 50 kyr at Okataina and Taupo volcanic centres, Taupo volcanic zone, New Zealand. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 148: 372-406

Spinks K D, Acocella V, Cole J W, Bassett K N, 2005. Structural control of volcanism and caldera development in the transtensional Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 144: 7-22

Spinks K D, Cole J W, Leonard G S, 2004. Caldera volcanism in the Taupo Volcanic Zone. {Geol Soc New Zeal, New Zeal Geophys Soc, 26th New Zeal Geotherm Workshop, 6th-9th Dec 2004, Great Lake Centre, Taupo}, Field Trip Guides, 7: 110-135

Stevenson R J, Dingwell D B, Bagdassarov N S, Manley C R, 2001. Measurement and implication of "effective" viscosity for rhyolite flow emplacement. {Bull Volc}, 63: 227-237

Sutton A N, Blake S , Wilson C J N, 1995. An outline geochemistry of rhyolite eruptives from Taupo volcanic centre, New Zealand. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 68: 153-175

Talbot J P, Self S, Wilson C J N, 1994. Dilute gravity current and rain-flushed ash deposits in the 1.8 km Hatepe Plinian deposit, Taupo, New Zealand. {Bull Volc}, 56: 538-551

Vucetich C G, Pullar W A, 1973. Holocene tephra formations erupted in the Taupo Area, and interbedded tephras from other volcanic sources. {New Zeal J Geol Geophys}, 16: 745-780

Wilson C J N, 1993. Stratigraphy, chronology, styles and dynamics of late Quaternary eruptions from Taupo volcano, New Zealand. {Phil Trans Roy Soc London}, Ser A, 343: 205-306

Wilson C J N, 2001. The 26.5 ka Oruanui erupption, New Zealand: an introduction and overview. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 112: 133-174

Wilson C J N, Blake S, Charlier B L A, Sutton A N, 2006. The 26.5 ka Oruanui eruption, Taupo volcano, New Zealand: development, characteristics and evacuation of a large rhyolitic magma body. {J Petr}, 47: 35-69

Wilson C J N, Gravley D M, Leonard G S, Rowland J V, 2009. Volcanism in the central Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand: tempo, styles and controls. {In}: Thordarson T, Self S, Larsen G, Rowland S K, Hoskuldsson A (eds), {Studies in Volcanology: The Legacy of George Walker}. Geol Soc London, p 225-247

Wilson C J N, Houghton B F, Lloyd E F, 1986. Volcanic history and evolution of Maroa-Taupo area, central North Island. {Roy Soc New Zeal Bull}, 23: 194-223

Wilson C J N, Houghton B F, McWilliams M O, Lanphere M A, Weaver S D, Briggs R M, 1995a. Volcanic and structural evolution of Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand: a review. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 68: 1-28

Wilson C J N, Rogan A M, Smith I E M, Northey D J, Nairn I A, Houghton B F, 1984. Caldera volcanoes of the Taupo volcanic zone, New Zealand. {J Geophys Res}, 89: 8463-8484

Wilson C J N, Walker G P L, 1985. The Taupo eruption, New Zealand. I. General aspects. {Phil Trans Roy Soc London}, Ser A, 314: 199-228

Taupo, the most active rhyolitic volcano of the Taupo volcanic zone, is a large, roughly 35-km-wide caldera with poorly defined margins. It is a type example of an "inverse volcano" that slopes inward towards the most recent vent location. The Taupo caldera, now filled by Lake Taupo, largely formed as a result of the voluminous eruption of the Oruanui Tephra about 22,600 years before present (BP). This was the largest known eruption at Taupo, producing about 1170 cu km of tephra. This eruption was preceded during the late Pleistocene by the eruption of a large number of rhyolitic lava domes north of Lake Taupo. Large explosive eruptions have occurred frequently during the Holocene from many vents within Lake Taupo and near its margins. The most recent major eruption took place about 1800 years BP from at least three vents along a NE-SW-trending fissure centered on the Horomotangi Reefs. This extremely violent eruption was New Zealand's largest during the Holocene and produced the thin but widespread phreatoplinian Taupo Ignimbrite, which covered 20,000 sq km of North Island.