Volcanoes of the Taupō Area
Hi.
Our names are Hayden and Nikaeda and we are students at Tauhara Primary School which is in Taupō.
We decided to look at Mount Ruapehu as a volcano but when we started looking we got interested in the timeline and activities of all the other volcanoes in our area.
The ones we are going to focus on are;
Tauhara, Tongariro, Ruapehu, Lake Taupō and Ngāuruhoe
First we looked at what is a volcano
A volcano is a landform that results from magma which is molten rock erupting at the surface. The size and shape of a volcano reflect how often it erupts.
There are four main types of volcanoes
Shield volcanoes
Composite volcanoes
Acid lava volcanoes
Cinder cones
Mount Tauhara is a dormant volcano. There is a Māori legend about Mount Tauhara called The Warrior Mountains. Our school is named because we are in the shadow of Mount Tauhara. It has lots of vents. There is a quarry on the eastern side of the mountain where dacite is extracted. Dacite is used in roading and some of the large decorative boulders in and around Taupō.
The summit (top) is 1088m above sea level.
Mount Ruapehu
It is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupō Volcanic Area in New Zealand. It is near Ohakune and is part of Tongariro National Park. It is the North Island's major skifields and only glaciers are on its slopes.
It is is one of the world's most active volcanoes and the largest active volcano in New Zealand.
It has erupted heaps since 1969, The last time it erupted was in 1995 and 1996.
Mount Ngāuruhoe
Mount Ngāuruhoe is an active stratovolcano. It first erupted about 2,500 years ago. It is really a cone of Mount Tongariro. It last erupted in 1977 but before that it was erupting every 9 years. Its name means "Throwing hot stones".
In the Māori legend, the high priest, Ngātoroirangi was caught in a blizzard while climbing Mount Ngāuruhoe.
Mount Tongariro
It is a compound volcano in the volcanic platau. It last erupted in November 2012. it is made of lots of cones (about 12). It is made of alternating layers of ash and lava flow. It was the first National Park in New Zealand.