An ashy septingentenarian: the Kaharoa tephra turns 700 (with notes on its volcanological, archaeological, and historical importance)

Most of us are aware of the basaltic Tarawera eruption on 10th June 1886: the high toll on life (~120 people), landscape devastation, and loss of the Pink and White Terraces. But this was not the first time that Mt Tarawera produced an eruption of importance both to volcanology and human history. This edition of the GSNZ Newsletter marks the 700th anniversary of the Kaharoa eruption – its septingentenary to be precise – which occurred at Mt Tarawera in the winter of 1314 AD (± 12 years) (Hogg et al. 2003) (Fig. 1). The importance of the Kaharoa eruption is at least threefold. (1) It is the most recent rhyolite eruption in New Zealand, and the largest New Zealand eruption volumetrically of the last millennium. (2) The Kaharoa tephra is an important marker horizon in late Holocene stratigraphy and geoarchaeology (Lowe et al. 1998, 2000), and in particular helps to constrain the timing of settlement of early Polynesians in North Island (Newnham et al. 1998; Hogg et al. 2003; Lowe 2011). (3) There is a link between the soils that developed on the Kaharoa tephra, the animal ‘wasting’ disease known as ‘bush sickness’, and the birth of a government soil survey group as an independent organisation (Tonkin 2012)

Vegetation dieback as a proxy for temperature within a wet pyroclastic density current: A novel experiment and observations from the 6th of August 2012 Tongariro eruption

The 6th of August 2012 eruption of Te Maari (Mt Tongariro, New Zealand) generated wet pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) which caused widespread dieback of vegetation (singed, brown foliage) in their path. An absence of significant charcoal formation suggests that PDC temperatures were mostly below 250 °C. Textural evidence for liquid water being present in the matrices during emplacement (vesicles) suggests that temperatures were b100 °C. We determined a probable minimum PDC temperature using an experiment replicating the critical temperatures required to induce foliar browning in seven species affected by the eruption. In locations where all species exhibited browned foliage (or were defoliated), temperatures were probably ≥64 °C assuming a PDC duration of 60 s. In the more distal areas, where only the most susceptible species were browned while others remained healthy and unaffected, temperatures were probably around 51–58 °C. These results have relevance to volcanic hazard mitigation and risk assessment, especially on the popular Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Lake-floor sediment texture and composition of a hydrothermally-active, volcanic lake, Lake Rotomahana

Young volcanic lakes undergo a transition from rapid, post-eruptive accumulation of volcaniclastic sediment to slower pelagic settling under stable lake conditions, and may also be influenced by sublacustrine hydrothermal systems. Lake Rotomahana is a young (129 year-old), hydrothermally-active, volcanic lake formed after the 1886 Tarawera eruption, and provides a unique insight into the early evolution of volcanic lake systems. Lake-bottom sediment cores, 20–46 cm in length, were taken along a transect across the lake and characterised with respect to stratigraphy, facies characteristics (i.e., grain size, componentry) and pore water silica concentrations. The sediments generally comprise two widespread facies: (i) a lower facies of light grey to grey, very fine lacustrine silt derived from the unconsolidated pyroclastic deposits that mantled the catchment area immediately after the eruption, which were rapidly reworked and redeposited into the lake basin; and (ii) an upper facies of dark, fine-sandy diatomaceous silt, that settled from the pelagic zone of the physically stable lake. Adjacent to sublacustrine hydrothermal vents, the upper dark facies is absent, and the upper part of the light grey to grey silt is replaced by a third localised facies comprised of hydrothermally altered pale yellow to yellowish brown, laminated silt with surface iron-rich encrustations. Microspheres, which are thought to be composed of amorphous silica, although some may be halloysite, have precipitated from pore water onto sediment grains, and are associated with a decrease in pore water silicon concentration. Lake Rotomahana is an example of a recently-stabilised volcanic lake, with respect to sedimentation, that shows signs of early sediment silicification in the presence of hydrothermal activity

Book review: The Colli Albani volcano

This article reviews the book: “Adventure education: An introduction”, edited by M, Berry & C. Hodgson