Lake Taupō sits on a massive pocket of 'magma mush'

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-06-22 08:20

New Zealand

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A string of seismic activity at Lake Taupō in 2019 has revealed more about the belly of world's most frequently active supervolcano system. In 2019 the lake saw multiple earthquake swarms and ground deformation, allowing scientists to estimate there is a 250 cubic kilometre 'magma mush' reservoir underneath the lake. They say new magma feeding into the reservoir caused the 2019 quake flurry, and the system is capable of creating a mass of eruptible magma within only a few years to decades.

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Video Victoria University of Wellington, Web page Animation explaining the research

Journal/
conference: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Victoria University of Wellington, GNS Science

Funder: FIK, SJB, CJNW, SE, IJH, and MKS are supported by the ECLIPSE programme, which is funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)

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