Lake Taupo has had two eruptions of note.
Lake Taupo is the location of the largest eruption in earth’s last 5000 years. The Hatepe eruption occurred around the year 232 CE and has been measured on the volcanic explosivity scale at VEI7. A much bigger eruption took place around 26,500 years ago when the Oruanui eruption which is responsible for the creation of the lake. This was a true super eruption as it measured VEI8. This eruption was the largest on earth for the last 70,000 years.
Volcanoes erupt because pressure builds up to the point that the pressure can no longer be contained by the Earth’s crust. Volcanoes exist where the Earth’s crust is thin, so rising heat is forced up and pushes up the crust forming a volcanic cone and the pressure can also break open the earth’s crust causing an eruption. Some of Earth’s volcanoes actually erupt or let out pressure regularly. Volcanoes of this nature include White Island in New Zealand and a number of volcanoes in Hawaii. Because of this, they are not that dangerous for two reasons. One because no one is surprised and thus precautions are taken, and two because they erupt with less pressure and thus less force due to continual release of pressure. But imagine 2000 years of pressure building up. What would that look like when it finally explodes? This is what makes Taupo one of the most dangerous volcanoes on Earth and in fact history testifies to this.
26,500 years ago, Taupo had the biggest eruption in the last 70,000 years of Earth’s history, with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8. An index of 8 is officially a super-eruption which is defined by expelled material of 1000 or more cubic km. Taupo spewed out 1150 cu/km of material and also had another massive eruption which was the biggest in the last 5000 years around the year 186 AD which measured 7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. The result of this eruption was a red sky over Rome and China according to historical records. Chinese records even attest to to hearing the explosion. Imagine that. Look at a globe and see how far away New Zealand is from China and Rome. This was truly a global event.
Now that you have learned something about Taupo, New Zealand’s own super volcano, I hope that you can respect that it is still a threat and one day it will erupt again.
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