1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera

Common card · No. 499772

A violent volcanic eruption occurred in the early hours of 10 June 1886 at Mount Tarawera, near Rotorua on New Zealand's North Island. The eruption reached an estimated volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 5 and killed an estimated 120 people, making it the largest and deadliest in New Zealand during the past 500 years, a period that includes the entirety of European history in New Zealand. The eruption began at roughly 2:00 a.m. and lasted for approximately six hours, causing a 10-kilometre-high (6 mi) ash column, earthquakes, lightning, and explosions heard as far away as Blenheim in the South Island – more than 500 kilometres (310 mi) 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...

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