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Rotorua

Google Earth Placemark
  • Country
  • Subregion Name
  • Volcano Type
  • Last Known Eruption
  • 757 m
    2483 ft
  • -38.080°
  • 176.270°
  • Elevation
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  • Latitude
  • Longitude

5 November-11 November 2003

Two eruptions occurred at Kuirau Park in Rotorua caldera around 1100 on 6 November. They blasted mud, rock, and ash 14 m into the air. Gray mud and small rocks littered a zone ~20 m wide. The eruption destroyed trees around the crater. The eruptions occurred just meters from the site of a large blowout in 2001. The area is known for this kind of phreatic activity.

Sources: New Zealand GeoNet Project



 Available Weekly Reports




2003: November |
2001: January | March | April |

5 November 2003              Back to Top

Two eruptions occurred at Kuirau Park in Rotorua caldera around 1100 on 6 November. They blasted mud, rock, and ash 14 m into the air. Gray mud and small rocks littered a zone ~20 m wide. The eruption destroyed trees around the crater. The eruptions occurred just meters from the site of a large blowout in 2001. The area is known for this kind of phreatic activity.

Sources: New Zealand GeoNet Project

11 April 2001              Back to Top

A vent in Kuirau Park in Rotorua ejected a small amount of hot mud, most likely on 8 April.

Sources: New Zealand GeoNet Project

28 March 2001              Back to Top

The IGNS reported that on 27 March a very small eruption of mud and water occurred from a vent in Kuirau Park, Rotorua. The park was the site of a large eruption in late January 2001.

Sources: New Zealand GeoNet Project

31 January 2001              Back to Top

The IGNS wrote, "On Friday 26 January at about 1530 to 1540, a muddy hot pool (Spring 721) erupted violently in the largest hydrothermal eruption in Kuirau Park since 1966. Blocks of rock debris and mud were blasted to a height of about 100 m. Blocks up to a meter in diameter were blown over 50 m from the vent, with fragments up to 10 cm landing over 100 m away. The steam cloud from the eruption was visible several kilometers away." The eruption deposited debris 120 m to the E of the vent and ~30 m to the W. The original hot pool was about 3 meters in diameter; the newly formed crater was about 10-12 m in diameter.

Sources: New Zealand GeoNet Project , New Zealand GeoNet Project



There are no eruptions known for Rotorua.

The 22-km-wide Rotorua caldera is the NW-most caldera of the Taupo volcanic zone. Rotorua is the only single-event caldera in the Taupo volcanic zone and was formed about 220,000 years ago following eruption of the >340 cu km rhyolitic Mamaku Ignimbrite. Although caldera collapse occurred in a single event, the process was complex and involved multiple collapse blocks. The major city of Rotorua lies at the south end of the lake that fills much of the caldera. Post-collapse eruptive activity, which ceased during the Pleistocene, has been restricted to lava dome extrusion without major explosive activity. The youngest eruptive activity at Rotorua consisted of the eruption of three lava domes less than 25,000 years ago. The major thermal areas of Takeke, Tikitere, Lake Rotokawa, and Rotorua-Whakarewarewa are located within the caldera or outside its rim, and the city of Rotorua lies within and adjacent to active geothermal fields.