Contact | RSS | EN | DE | EL | ES | FR | IT | RU

Okataina (Tarawera) Volcano

Updated: Mar 28, 2024 23:38 GMT -
Lava domes 1111 m / 3,645 ft
New Zealand, -38.12°S / 176.5°E
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5)
Last update: 20 Dec 2021 (Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report)

Mount Tarawera, located 24 km SE of Rotorua, is the main vent of the Okataina volcanic complex. Tarawera produced one of New Zealand's largest historic eruptions in 1886, when a violent explosive basaltic eruption occurred that killed an estimated 120 people. The fissures that opened up run for about 17 kilometres northeast-southwest.

[smaller] [larger]
Typical eruption style: unspecified
Okataina (Tarawera) volcano eruptions: 1981, 1886 (Tarawera eruption)

Latest nearby earthquakes

TimeMag. / DepthDistance / Location
Mar 22, 10:03 am (Auckland)
Mar 21, 21:03 GMT
2.6

153 km
24 km (15 mi) to the NW New Zealand Info
Monday, March 18, 2024 GMT (1 quake)
Mar 18, 09:50 pm (Auckland)
Mar 18, 08:50 GMT
2.6

139 km
16 km (10.1 mi) to the NW New Zealand Info
Friday, March 15, 2024 GMT (1 quake)
Mar 16, 11:01 am (Auckland)
Mar 15, 22:01 GMT
2.9

132 km
29 km (18 mi) to the N New Zealand Info
Friday, March 22, 2024 GMT (1 quake)
Mar 22, 11:51 pm (Auckland)
Mar 22, 10:51 GMT
2.4

142 km
23 km (15 mi) to the NW New Zealand Info
Sunday, March 17, 2024 GMT (1 quake)
Mar 18, 08:58 am (Auckland)
Mar 17, 19:58 GMT
2.4

110 km
16 km (9.7 mi) to the W New Zealand Info
Thursday, March 21, 2024 GMT (1 quake)
Mar 22, 08:30 am (Auckland)
Mar 21, 19:30 GMT
2.3

97 km
15 km (9.4 mi) to the W New Zealand Info

Background

The massive, dominantly rhyolitic Okataina Volcanic Centre 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 Okataina Volcanic Centre, 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 Okataina 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.
---
Smithsonian / GVP volcano information

Latest satellite images

okataina satellite image sat1okataina satellite image sat2
Wed, 15 Jun 2016, 06:00

Okataina volcano (North Island, New Zealand) - Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 15 June-21 June 2016 (New Activity / Unrest)

GeoNet reported that the Mud Rift feature at Okataina's Waimangu Geothermal area erupted during 17-20 May, the first time since 1989. The Mud Rift geothermal vent formed in 1906 in the Raupo Pond Crater (one of multiple craters which formed in June 1886) and is 36 m long, 5-6 m wide, and 15 m deep. The steam-driven events mostly ejected fine sand and mud, and there was abundant evidence of fluids flooding into the rift, especially at the W end. ... Read all
Fri, 16 Jan 2015, 12:05

Tarawera volcano (New Zealand): small earthquake swarm near Lake Rotomahana

Mount Tarawera seismograph drum showing the earthquakes (GeoNet)
A swarm of small earthquakes occurred during 14-15 Jan near Lake Rotomahana. ... Read all

On this page: