NATUREANDCO.COM - Volcanic Landforms in New Zealand - What to see and where to find them

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Seeing volcanoes & geysers in New Zealand:

Active volcanoes

Geysers & major geothermal areas

Dormant volcanoes

Hot springs

Other volcanic landforms

Map North Island

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Selected bibliography

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OTHER VOLCANIC LANDFORMS
IN NEW ZEALAND

Volcanism has been active throughout New Zealand, especially the North Island, for many million years, but only the youngest manifestations can clearly be traced to that origin. This section presents other features that are less obviously of volcanic origin, but which can provide the motivation for a very interesting trip.

Seen on a clear day from Auckland Central (Mt Eden) Little Barrier Island, 75 km (46 miles) away, looms large on the horizon of the Hauraki Gulf. Photo NC.

Specific references for this page:

Llyod Homer, Phil Moore and Les Kermode 2000: Lava and Strata - A Guide to the Volcanoes and Rock Formations of Auckland. IGNS.

Ewen Cameron, Bruce Hayward and Graeme Murdoch 1997: A Field Guide to Auckland. Godwit.

R.H. Clark 1989: New Zealand from the Road - Landforms of the North Island. Heinemann Reed.

Llyod Homer and Phil Moore 1992: Vanishing Volcanoes - A Guide to the Landforms and Rock Formations of Coromandel Peninsula. IGNS.

Geoffrey J. Cox 1994: Mountains of Fire -The Volcanic Past of Banks Peninsula. Canterbury University Press.

Weaver, Stephen; Sewell, Rod and Dorsey, Chris 1990: Extinct Volcanoes - A Guide to the Geology of Banks Peninsula. Bush Press.

Rodney Grapes and Hamish Campbell 1994: Red Rocks - A Wellington Geological Excursion. Geological Society of New Zealand.

B.F. Houghton 1982: Geyserland - A Guide to the Volcanoes and Geothermal Areas of Rotorua. Geological Society of NZ, Guidebook No 2.

B.N. Thompson, L.O. Kermode and A Ewart 1965: New Zealand Volcanology - Central Volcanic Region. DSIR.

Learn more about Natural history/the volcanoes of New Zealand.

REGION from N to S	VOLCANIC FEATURES	DETAILS
Locate these places in maps: North Island
Northland	St Paul's Dome	Located on the east side of Whangaroa Harbour, very close to Whangaroa Township. Andesitic volcanism 20 million years ago deposited large quantities of material in this area. Much has been eroded but harder masses have remained and form striking landmarks such as St Paul's Dome. Other spectacular volcanic structures are best seen from the sea, around Pekapeka Bay just inside the Heads.
Northland	Taratara Rocks	This is one of the most prominent among the structures that share a common origin with St Paul's Dome. Taratara Rocks are located just west of SH 10 and the south-western end of Whangaroa Harbour.
Auckland	Little Barrier Island, Hauraki Gulf	Little Barrier Island is an extinct andesitic volcano, which was active about 700,000 years ago. With a diameter of about 7 km (4.3 miles) and an altitude of 722 m (2368') it is the second lagest island in the Hauraki Gulf, and one of its most prominent features. Access is restricted because of the island's status as a wildlife sanctuary. But Little Barrier's dark mass that can be seen from many places around the Gulf, and its inaccessible interior add a touch of mystery to the whole place.
Auckland	Muriwai, Waitakere Ranges	The Waitakere Ranges are a recently uplifted block of volcanic rocks. These rocks were either part of, or eroded from, the Waitakere Volcano, a large marine andesitic strato-volcano which was active between 22 and 15 million years ago. In the cliff at Maori Bay, Muriwai, two distinct types of features can be clearly observed. The first is an internationally significant outcrop of pillow-lavas. These elongated lobes are typical of lava flowing into water. The second, right in the cliff, are radiating columns of lava. These are thought to have been formed by lava slowly cooling in the feeder tubes that supplied molten lava to the advancing front of the flow, where smaller lobes branched off to form the pillow-lavas.
Coromandel	Motutu Point, Whangapoua	Separating Whangapoua Beach from Wainuiototo Bay, Motutu Point is made of columns of basalt that rise up to 50 m (165') high. It also has a large sea cave and, opening in the middle of the columns of basalt, a small blowhole. This structure was the central core of a basaltic volcano, perhaps the solidified lava lake that occupied the crater.
Coromandel	Kauearanga Valley	The Kauearanga Valley and its surroundings contain some of most spectacular volcanic features in the Coromandel Peninsula. From the bottom of the valley several short and medium walks lead to higher ground with superb views over both the deep gorge and the surrounding summits. Among the most prominent the flat-topped Table Mountain is a solidified andesitic lava lake, while the jagged ridge of Pinnacles probably is a former dyke of rhyoltic lava.
Bay of Plenty	The lakes of the Rotorua area	These lakes owe their origin to late Quaternary volcanism which produced very large rhyolitic and ignimbrite eruptions. Lake Rotorua fills a large part of the Rotorua Caldera, which was formed by crustal subsidence following the eruption of large volumes of ignimbrites about 140,000 years ago. Its outlet into Lake Rotoiti through Ohau Channel has been blocked several times by deposits following volcanic eruptions, and the lake level has risen in response, up to 80 m (262') above present. Most of the other lakes (Rotoiti, Rotoehu, Okataina, Okareka, Tarawera) are located within the Haroharo Caldera, in the northern part of the Okataina Volcanic Centre. Lake Rotoma is part of a nearby centre. Lake Rotomahana was formed during the 1886 eruption, by the flooding of five eruption craters.
Bay of Plenty	Mokoaia Island, Rotorua	The island was formed by a rhyolite dome that now rises 180 m (590') above the level of the lake.
Waikato	Lake Taupo	The lake in its present form was created by the huge eruption of the second century AD. It is thought that Roman and Chinese records of coloured sunsets in the year 186 AD refer to that eruption. The exact location of the vent is thought to be at Horomatangi Reefs, which rise within 2 metres of the surface about 6 km (4 miles) west of Waitahanui. This would be the greatest active volcanic vent in New Zealand. In any case a lake existed long before the present lake Taupo, and the greatest eruption of the Taupo Vocano, indeed the greatest known eruption in the world, occurred there about 22,500 years ago. Volcanic features in and around the lake include several rhyolite domes, in particular Motutaiko Island, in the south-eastern part of the lake, and Manganamu, conspicuous from SH 41 between Turangi and Tokaanu. The Karangahape Cliffs, which rise 300 m (1000') above the surface in the south-wester quarter of the lake, were formed by downfaulting through another rhyolite dome.
Waikato	Aratiatia Rapids, Waikato River	At Aratiatia, a few kilometres north-east of Taupo township, the Waikato River drops 30 m (100') in about 1 km (0.6 mile) through a series of rapids entrenched between upstanding rhyolite lava dykes. The Aratiatia Rapids are now intermittent due to hydroelectric operations, but when they are permitted to flow the sight is impressive. The process which created the concentric fissures through which the dykes were formed is not well understood.
Taranaki	Mt Taranaki debris avalanches and lahars	In the west of Mt Taranaki, between Okato and Opunake, the surface of the ringplain which slopes gently towards the sea is punctuated by thousands of small hillocks, usually more or less hemispherical in shape and a few metres to about 30 m (100') high. They were created by avalanches of volcanic debris from Mt Taranaki, interspersed by highly mobile volcanic mudflows called lahars. Four main episodes of lahar and debris-generating collapses have been identified: 30-35000 years ago (Opunake), 23000 years ago (Pangarehu), 12-16000 years ago (Warea), and 7000 years ago (Opua). The largest of the debris avalanches reached beyond the present coastline.
Wellington	Red Rocks Point	A walk to Red Rocks Point provides an excellent opportunity to discover rocks from an old sea floor. The exact location is about 2 km (1.2 miles) west of Owhiro Bay, just outside the entrance of Wellington Harbour. The rocks include pillow lavas, volcanic sediments, and red cherts (a sedimentary rock formed by the accumulation of the siliceous shells of tiny radiolara, typical of deep sea environments). These rocks are found between a series of near-vertical beds of greywacke that are found immediately to their east and west. It is thought that the volcanic rocks and cherts are fragments of an old sea floor that has been squeezed between younger greywackes.
Canterbury	Banks Peninsula	The Peninsula is formed by the Lyttleton and Akaroa volcanoes. Akaroa is younger and has buried part of the south-east flank of the Lyttleton volcano. The Lyttleton and Akaroa Harbours were formed by the erosion of the central parts of the volcanoes. Erosion followed by the drowning of the sides of the volcanoes has resulted in numerous narrow bays and inlets all around the peninsula. Banks Peninsula was originally an island and has been connected to the mainland by the outwash of the Canterbury Plains. The topography is very hilly and rises to 920 m (3018') at Herbert Peak/Te Ahu Patiki. A good network of roads and walking tracks provide many opportunities to visit and discover the details of the peninsula's volcanic origin.