Page 86 - Super Earth Encyclopedia

BOILING MUD

ROTORUA

New Zealand is an earthquake zone, where one plate
of Earth’s crust is grinding against another. The Pacific
Ocean floor is pushing beneath North Island, and this
is ripping the island apart, opening a great rift down its
center. Magma welling up beneath the rift has caused
colossal volcanic eruptions in the past, creating huge,
crater-like calderas that now contain lakes such as Lake
Taupo and Lake Rotorua. Within the calderas, heat from
below makes boiling water emerge in hot springs, geysers,
and bubbling mudpots. Some of the most spectacular
erupt around the city of Rotorua, sometimes called
Sulfur City because of all the volcanic gases in the air.

AT A GLANCE

• LOCATION Taupo Volcanic Zone,
North Island, New Zealand
• AGE Rotorua caldera was formed
about 230,000 years ago
• MAIN FEATURES Mudpots,
hot springs, and geysers
• GEOTHERMAL ACTIVITY Constant

STATS AND FACTS

ROTORUA TOWN TAUPO ZONE
The Taupo Volcanic
Zone is a dormant The entire town The last
of Rotorua
supervolcanic
supervolcano, like (population 57,800) eruption in the
Yellowstone in the lies within the zone occurred
26,500 years ago.
US. It has the same RIFT LENGTH Rotorua caldera. The rift that created the
history of massive
FIRE AND STEAM had a global impact. km extending into the Pacific Ocean. 400
eruptions that have
calderas is 217 miles (350 km) long,
350
250
300
150
200
miles
250
AREA OF CALDERA
31
SQ MILES
(80 SQ KM)
84

US_084_085-Rotorua.indd 84 01/03/17 4:25 pm