Taupō supervolcano and caldera – Ōruanui eruption, 25,500 years ago

Our biggest volcano isn’t a cone, it’s a lake, formed about 25,500 years ago in the massive Ōruanui eruption shown in this video. The volcano spat out so much magma that the ground collapsed kilometres downward.

That huge hole – a caldera – now contains Lake Taupō.

The Pacific Plate plunges beneath the eastern North Island, 4cm every year. Pressure builds. Rock melts. Hot magma rises and feeds a long chain of volcanoes.

The Earth’s crust is unusually thin in the Taupō Volcanic Zone. Magma gets close to the surface – and sometimes breaks through. Every now and then, huge eruptions leave giant holes in the landscape.

A huge eruption here spat out so much magma that the ground collapsed kilometres downward and left a caldera – a gigantic collapsed block of land – in its wake.

Water filled the hole, and Lake Taupō was formed.

The volume of erupted material was 8–9 times the volume of water in Lake Taupō today.

Volcanic material filled the air. Most fell on the North Island, but some landed as far away as the Chatham Islands.

How much ash fell?
Ahuriri | Napier 2m
Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa | Gisborne 1.2m
Whakatāne 1m
Te Papaioea | Palmerston North 50cm
Tauranga 40cm
Pōneke | Wellington 20cm
Rēkohu/Wharekauri | Chatham Islands 18cm
Ngāmotu | New Plymouth 15cm

Still active – After an eruption in the central North Island, volcanic ash could cover the entire island and beyond.

Since Ōruanui, there’ve been 28 smaller eruptions of Taupō. No super eruption will happen in your lifetime – the magma takes too long to build.

Thanks to monitoring by GNS Science, we can expect some warning before the next one.

Taupō is a global star – the world’s most active supervolcano. It’s studied by scientists everywhere.

Credit:
Reference landscape image courtesy of LINZ. CC BY 4.0, Rūaumoko illustration by Ben Te Aika

[ashuggtube]

I like at 3:22 how the ash cloud gets to Australia and then goes "euw, gross" and runs away

[Fraplu]

props to the camera man for going back in time to record these

[hedvigtoth]

Klassz animáció ! Honnan lehet tudni, hogy ez 25 ezer éve történt ? A Természet dolgozik....🌎🚊🌏🔥🔥🔥🔥🌋🌋🌋🌋🌋🌋🌋🌋🌋🌋

[coolfix]

In the name of science we were given fiction in schools

[aerotyoe]

and that’s how taupo lake was Created kids.



still better than the tonga volcano.

[ktvindicare]

Crazy. Each of the big eruptions before the VEI8 were huge, but it just gives you an idea of how much more powerful a VEI8 eruption actually is.

[Snowyturbo]

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this now. It’s incredible how Taupo was actually formed (the lake) and where all the volcanoes under the lake are. I always was intrigued to know because I could never see how the lake itself (well, under the lake) was the volcano itself

[ericson]

I was pretty mind blown and still am, when I learned (from a visit at Te Papa) that lake taupo is a volcano, after swimming in it just two weeks earlier 😅
Keep up the amazing work you do! I hope to visit New Zealand again some time and also your museum 🥰

[unread_virus]

Only here cause taupo had a 5.6 quake lastnight.the Supervolcano is awake

[johnkenure]

excellent more NZ geology like this please

[lindagodfrey]

Story: thousands of years before the super eruption, 27 minor eruptions and 3 major took place. After those, The super eruption itself started after a major eruption then multiple eruptions occurred. Eventually a caldera formed. Then the eruption stopped and the lake formed.

[AlfaFilmsNZ]

What an incredible video. I feel quite sad seeing the end slide where it goes from that beautiful untouched green landscape to our modern world 🌎

[parajacks]

I like the way it ends with a sunset, as we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

[nagasako]

Modern NZers. "This looks nice a nice place to build a town, it has such large and beautiful lake!"

[allanhastings]

Life is beautiful at home, a sunny drive or walk, at church or with friends. Then nature unleashes Armageddon on one's complacent reality! Gone!!

[billliberati]

I don't know how that guy kept that camera steady, impressive work

[gtone]

Nice job on the cgi Taupo Super volcano rendition guys! Went to Te Papa Museum and gosh my mind was blown!

[jase]

Whose here because of the earthquake at Taupo today.

[roczy]

Earthquake in Taupo yesterday or something but had vivid dream several months ago driving around the lake for some reason and it deciding to erupt exactly like this but mud brown explosions going off everywhere

[hermannvanderdecken]

Why don't we do the same simulation with Toba and Yellowstone eruptions? I know it is a lot of work, but don't it would have to be a funny thing to see to understand how that it made. If it's already done, could you send me a link?