The Taupō Volcanic Zone (TVZ) is a volcanic area in the North Island of New Zealand that has been active for the past two million years and is still highly active. Mount Ruapehu marks its south-western end and the zone runs north-eastward through the Taupō and Rotorua areas and offshore into the Bay of Plenty. It is part of the larger Central Volcanic Region that extends further westward through the western Bay of Plenty to the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula and has been active for four million years. At Taupō the rift volcanic zone is widening east–west at the rate of about 8 mm per year while at Mount Ruapehu it is only 2–4 mm per year but this increases at the north eastern end at the Bay of Plenty coast to 10–15 mm per year. It is named after Lake Taupō, the flooded caldera of the largest volcano in the zone, the Taupō Volcano and contains a large central volcanic plateau as well as other landforms associated with its containing tectonic intra-arc continental Taupō Rift.
Mount Tarawera is a volcano on the North Island of New Zealand within the older but volcanically productive Ōkataina Caldera. Located 24 kilometres southeast of Rotorua, it consists of a series of rhyolitic lava domes that were fissured down the middle by an explosive basaltic eruption in 1886. This eruption was one of New Zealand's largest historical eruptions, and killed an estimated 120 people. The fissures run for about 17 kilometres (11 mi) northeast-southwest.
In 1886, a violent eruption occurred at Mount Tarawera, near the city of Rotorua on New Zealand's North Island. At an estimated Volcanic Explosivity Index of 5, the eruption is the largest and deadliest in New Zealand during the past 500 years, which includes the entirety of European history in New Zealand. The eruption began in the early hours of 10 June 1886 and lasted for approximately 6 hours, causing a 10-kilometre-high (6.2 mi) ash column, earthquakes, lightning, and explosions to be heard as far away as Blenheim in the South Island — more than 500 kilometers away. A 17-kilometre-long (11 mi) rift formed across the mountain and surrounding area during the eruption, starting from the Wahanga peak at the mountain's northern end and extending in a southwesterly direction, through Lake Rotomahana and forming the Waimangu Volcanic Rift Valley. This rift is where the basaltic dyke that fed the eruption reached the surface.
The Haroharo Caldera was a 26 by 16 km postulated volcanic feature in Taupō Volcanic Zone of the North Island, New Zealand within the larger and older Ōkataina Caldera. Since 2010 further studies have tended to use the terms Haroharo vent alignment, Utu Caldera, Matahina Caldera, Rotoiti Caldera and a postulated Kawerau Caldera to the features assigned to it.
The Kapenda Caldera in New Zealands Taupō Volcanic Zone lies in a low land area immediately south of Lake Rotorua through the Hemo Gap in the Rotorua Caldera rim.
Ōkataina Caldera is a volcanic caldera and its associated volcanoes located in Taupō Volcanic Zone of New Zealand's North Island. It is just east of the smaller Rotorua Caldera and southwest of the much smaller Rotomā Embayment which is usually regarded as an associated volcano. It shows high rates of explosive rhyolitic volcanism although its last eruption was basaltic. The postulated Haroharo Caldera contained within it has sometimes been described in almost interchangeable terms with the Ōkataina Caldera or volcanic complex or centre and by other authors as a separate complex. Since 2010 other terms such as the Haroharo vent alignment, Utu Caldera, Matahina Caldera, Rotoiti Caldera and a postulated Kawerau Caldera have replaced this classification.
The relatively small Rotomā Caldera is in the Taupō Volcanic Zone in the North Island of New Zealand.
The Hipaua steaming cliffs are a geological feature on the southern shores of Lake Taupō near Little Waihi, which also has hot springs associated with the Hipaua geothermal area.
The Waihi Fault Zone is a seismically active area of the central North Island of New Zealand whose earthquakes have been associated with significant loss of life.
The Poutu Fault Zone is a seismically active area of the central North Island of New Zealand.
The Hauraki Rift is an active NeS-to NWeSE-striking rift valley system in the North Island of New Zealand that has produced the Firth of Thames and the Hauraki Plains. It is approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) wide and 250 kilometres (160 mi) long.
Maunga Kākaramea is a 743 metres (2,438 ft) high dacite volcano located between Rotorua and Taupō in the North Island Volcanic Plateau. It has multiple steaming features and a picturesque crater lake reached by a short walk from the nearest road and has a nearby geothermal area.
Maungaongaonga is an 825 metres (2,707 ft) high dacite volcano located between Rotorua and Taupō in the North Island Volcanic Plateau. The area of the mountain is a scenic reserve and some of its southern slopes are highly geothermally active.
The Paeroa Fault is a seismically active area in the Taupō District, Waikato Region of the central North Island of New Zealand.
The Taupō Rift is the seismically active rift valley containing the Taupō Volcanic Zone, central North Island of New Zealand.
The Horohoro Fault is in the old Taupō Rift of the central North Island of New Zealand.
The Taupō Fault Belt contains many almost parallel active faults and is located in the Taupō Rift of the central North Island of New Zealand geographically between Lake Taupō and the lakes of Rotorua, Tarawera, Rotomahana and Rerewhakaaitu. The Waikato River bisects the western region of the belt.
The Ngakuru Graben is an area of tectonic ground subsiding as originally defined between the Ngakuru Fault to the east and the Whirinaki Fault in the west both in the Taupō Fault Belt. It was originally defined in 1959 but many other geological terms for local features are no longer in use, and some were misinterpretations. Within this 4.5 km (2.8 mi) wide Ngakuru Graben are also to the west the Maleme Fault (Zone), which as a zone also contains the Mangaete/Lakeside Fault and to the east the Hossack Road Fault and the Te Weta Fault. Some authors have defined a wider 15 km (9.3 mi) wide area so as to include all of the low-lying areas associated with the Taupō Fault Belt immediately south of Rotorua so this includes the more eastern Paeroa and Ngapouri Faults and much of the Kapenga Caldera. Unhappily both definitions as to width seem current in the literature.
The Manawahe Fault line is a seismically active area in the Bay of Plenty Region of the central North Island of New Zealand with the potential to be involved with other faults in an 7.0 event.
The Rotoiti Caldera is a postulated, mainly infilled sub caldera of the Ōkataina Caldera based upon gravitational and magnetic evidence. It erupted 100 cubic kilometres (24 cu mi) of magma that is used in the recent stratigraphy of much of the northern North Island. It was formed in the larger paired eruption with the lesser Earthquake Flat vents linked by tectonic interaction across the length of the Ōkataina Caldera. The series of eruptions was about 50,000 years ago, with the resulting widespread Rotoiti ignimbrite and several layers of Rotoiti/Rotoehu tephra/brecca/ash giving challenges in consistent dating. It was subsequently infilled by later eruptive activity to a depth of over 2 km (1.2 mi). The paired eruptions may have erupted about 240 cubic kilometres (58 cu mi) of tephra.
