Grafton Volcano is a buried volcano in New Zealand's Auckland volcanic field that underlies much of the Auckland suburb of Grafton. First recognised in 2010, [1] it includes the Outhwaite Park scoria cone that was first mapped by Hochstetter (1864) and inferred by later geologists to be a late phase vent of adjacent Pukekawa Volcano. Borehole drilling and building excavations in the Grafton-Auckland Domain area during the 1990s and 2000s provided new subsurface geological information that allowed geologists to recognise the buried Grafton Volcano. [2]
The central and western parts of this Grafton Volcano comprise a tuff ring arc surrounding a 600-metre (2,000 ft) diameter explosion crater filled with a solidified lava lake (basalt) at least 50 metres (160 ft) thick, which underlies and surrounds scoria cones that erupted from two vents within the crater (at Outhwaite Park and the east end of Auckland Hospital). [2] Most of Grafton Volcano is buried beneath 2–10 metres (7–33 ft) of volcanic ash that forms the western sector of the adjacent Pukekawa tuff ring. [1] [2] [3]
Subsurface information suggests that the Pukekawa Volcano probably erupted 5–100 years after the Grafton Volcano from a separate batch of magma that rose most of the way up the same conduit. The Pukekawa explosion crater erupted 500 metres (1,600 ft) east of Grafton Volcano and blasted through and destroyed the eastern arc of Grafton Volcano’s tuff ring and basalt-filled crater floor, creating its own 600-metre (2,000 ft) diameter explosion crater and surrounding tuff ring. Widespread cobble-sized chunks of basalt within the Pukekawa tuff deposits are probably shattered parts of the Grafton crater floor. [2]
The ages of the Grafton and Pukekawa volcanoes were until recently not known precisely, although a tree under the Pukekawa tuff ring was radiocarbon dated at over 50,000 years old. [2] Recent studies have shown them to be approximately 100,000 years old.
The fractures and rubble within the solidified lava lakes of the Grafton and Pukekawa volcanoes now form a significant groundwater reservoir utilised by Auckland Hospital and the Domain. [2]
Whether the Grafton and Pukekawa volcanoes are recognised as separate volcanoes or merely two halves of a more complex single volcano is a matter yet to be resolved and agreed upon by scientists. [2]
Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand. The 5.5 km (3.4 mi) wide island is a symmetrical shield volcano cone capped by central scoria cones, reaching a height of 260 m (850 ft). Rangitoto is the youngest and largest of the approximately 50 volcanoes of the Auckland volcanic field, having erupted in two phases about 1450 CE and 1500 CE and covering an area of 2,311 ha. It is separated from the mainland of Auckland's North Shore by the Rangitoto Channel. Since World War II, it has been linked by a causeway to the much older, non-volcanic Motutapu Island.
Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and size of the fragments ejected during the eruption. Types of volcanic cones include stratocones, spatter cones, tuff cones, and cinder cones.
The Auckland volcanic field is an area of monogenetic volcanoes covered by much of the metropolitan area of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, located in the North Island. The approximately 53 volcanoes in the field have produced a diverse array of maars, tuff rings, scoria cones, and lava flows. With the exception of Rangitoto, no volcano has erupted more than once, but the other eruptions lasted for various periods ranging from a few weeks to several years. Rangitoto erupted several times and recently twice; in an eruption that occurred about 600 years ago, followed by a second eruption approximately 50 years later. The field is fuelled entirely by basaltic magma, unlike the explosive subduction-driven volcanism in the central North Island, such as at Mount Ruapehu and Lake Taupō.
The Auckland Domain, also known as Pukekawa / Auckland Domain, is a large park in Auckland, New Zealand. Consisting of 75 hectares of land, Auckland Domain is the oldest park in the city. Located in the central suburb of Grafton, the parkland is the remains of the explosion crater and most of the surrounding tuff ring of the Pukekawa volcano.
The Panmure Basin, also sometimes known as the Panmure Lagoon, is a tidal estuary within a volcanic crater or maar in New Zealand's Auckland volcanic field. It is located to the south of Panmure town centre.
Achilles Point is a rocky point on the headland at the eastern end of the small sandy beach named Ladies Bay, Auckland, New Zealand. The name 'Te Pane o Horoiwi' can also sometimes refer to the whole headland between St Heliers and Tamaki River estuary. Achilles Point is named after a ship called HMNZS Achilles (70) which defeated the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in 1939. The headland, from the point round to the Tamaki heads, was previously known as Te Pane o Horoiwi, named after Horoiwi who arrived in New Zealand on the Tainui canoe (waka).
The Auckland Region of New Zealand is built on a basement of greywacke rocks that form many of the islands in the Hauraki Gulf, the Hunua Ranges, and land south of Port Waikato. The Waitākere Ranges in the west are the remains of a large andesitic volcano, and Great Barrier Island was formed by the northern end of the Coromandel Volcanic Zone. The Auckland isthmus and North Shore are composed of Waitemata sandstone and mudstone, and portions of the Northland Allochthon extend as far south as Albany. Little Barrier Island was formed by a relatively isolated andesitic volcano, active around 1 to 3 million years ago.
Matukutūreia / McLaughlins Mountain is one of the volcanic cones in the Auckland volcanic field. It has a peak 73 metres above sea level, and was the site of a pā. The scoria cone was originally crescent-shaped and featured Māori terraces and kumara pits, before extensive quarrying reduced it to a pyramid-shaped mound big enough to support the summit water tank for Papatoetoe. A small part of the summit and the eastern side of the cone were left unquarried, plus a large area of lava flows to the south of the cone remains intact. These remaining parts have recently been transferred to Department of Conservation Management, primarily because of the high heritage values of the Matukuturua Stonefields gardens.
Crater Hill is one of the volcanoes of the Auckland volcanic field, in New Zealand. It consists of an explosion crater about 600 metres (2,000 ft) wide, partly filled with water. The hill, alongside Māngere Lagoon, Waitomokia, Kohuora, Pukaki Lagoon and Robertson Hill, is one of the volcanic features collectively referred to as Nga Tapuwae a Mataoho, referring to the deity in Tāmaki Māori myths who was involved in their creation.
Te Hopua a Rangi, also known as Gloucester Park, is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field in Auckland, New Zealand, and is located in Onehunga. Its 300 m wide, sediment-filled explosion (maar) crater was used as a boat harbour in early European times and known first as Onehunga Basin then as Geddes Basin. It was reclaimed in the 1930s and named Gloucester Park in 1935 after the visit to New Zealand by the Duke of Gloucester in that year. From 1975 into the early 1980s the Southwestern Motorway was built right through the middle of the park and crater. The southern side was turned into a sports ground, and the western side as a wetland with activity space for Aotea Sea Scouts who took ownership of the Manukau Yacht and Motor Boat Club (MYMBC) club house in 1977.
Waitomokia is a volcano in the Auckland volcanic field. Waitomokia's 600 m (2,000 ft) wide tuff crater contained three small scoria cones up to 20 m (66 ft) high, one with a crater, which were quarried in the 1950s.
Taylors Hill, is a volcano in the Auckland volcanic field. It erupted about 33,000 years ago. Its scoria cone reaches 57 m (187 ft) high.
Little Rangitoto, officially known as Maungarāhiri / Little Rangitoto, and also as Rangitoto-iti, is a volcano in the Auckland volcanic field in Remuera, New Zealand. The name Maungarāhiri refers to Rāhiri, an ancestor of Ngāpuhi, who journeyed around the North Island. In the 1700s and early 1800s, the volcano was the site of Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei seasonal farms.
Pukewairiki located in Highbrook Park is a volcano in the Auckland volcanic field in the North Island of New Zealand.
Purchas Hill is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field.
Robertson Hill is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field in New Zealand. It erupted approximately 24,300 years ago. The hill, alongside Māngere Lagoon, Waitomokia, Crater Hill, Kohuora and Pukaki Lagoon, is one of the volcanic features collectively referred to as Nga Tapuwae a Mataoho, referring to the deity in Tāmaki Māori myths who was involved in their creation.
Hampton Park is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. A small scoria cone reaching 35 metres above sea level, with a shallow crater around 50 metres wide, which has been modified by quarrying. The scoria cone sits in the centre of a much larger explosion crater, the eastern arc of the surrounding tuff ring is still present. Stone from the volcano was used to build dry-stone walls and the nearby St John's Church built on the tuff ring crest.
Styaks Swamp is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field, found in the suburb of East Tāmaki.
The Puhinui Craters are located in Auckland's Puhinui Reserve and are part of the Auckland volcanic field in the North Island of New Zealand. They were first recognised as volcanic craters in 2011. A cluster of three small maar craters like these is unique in the Auckland volcanic field. Their ages are unknown but most probably all three erupted during the same eruptive episode. They could have been associated with the eruption of nearby Matukutureia but this is speculation at present.
Te Tātua a Riukiuta / Big King is a volcano and Tūpuna Maunga in Three Kings, New Zealand that erupted 28,500 years ago. The volcano had three prominent peaks known as Three Kings and a number of smaller peaks until most of them were quarried away, leaving a sole remaining large peak known as Big King.