Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

GNS: Volcanoes keep quiet amid earthquakes

Jamie Morton
By Jamie Morton
Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·
15 Nov, 2016 10:05 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Scientists have observed little effect on New Zealand's volcanoes following the quakes. Photo / File

Scientists have observed little effect on New Zealand's volcanoes following the quakes. Photo / File

Did the Kaikoura earthquake and its aftershocks disturb our volcanoes?

GNS Science volcanologists say no, although monitoring equipment has picked up a recent series of seemingly unrelated tremors.

Volcanologist Brad Scott said there was a "brief bit of activity" at the submarine Monowai volcano north of Auckland over 24 hours on November 11 and 12 - a spate typically seen each month.

Levels of volcanic tremors also remained low at Raoul Island and White Island.

On land, the Okataina Volcanic Centre appeared quiet, with just a few small shallow earthquakes near Kawerau and a half dozen to the south in Waikite Valley, a place no stranger to small earthquake swarms.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There were also a couple of earthquakes near the Wairakei geothermal system, Scott said.

The Taupo Volcanic Centre remained quiet, with just two quakes this week.

"However, it is a very different story north of Kuratau [near Turangi], which experienced a sequence of earthquakes between the 10th and 13th of November."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The sequence came in four parts: the first, which included the largest earthquakes, started on November 10 and appeared as a typical main-shock after-shock sequence.

The largest of the 27 earthquakes was a magnitude 3.3.

After what Scott called a "geological power nap" - of about 21 hours, the second sequence started.

"It behaved much more like a typical Taupo Volcanic Zone swarm and included 52 earthquakes," he said.

The third part of the sequence started about 11 hours after the second and was also swarm-like, with 32 separate earthquakes.

"The fourth part included three magnitude 3 earthquakes and an isolated magnitude 3.2 earthquake on the eastern side of the lake."

This part dropped off before midnight Sunday and Monday and so far had not notably reactivated following the 7.5 Kaikoura quake.

The earthquakes ranged in magnitude from a little less than 1.0 to 3.3, and were between 5 and 11km deep. Most were 7-8km deep.

"Small shallow earthquakes like these will be well felt by local residents and we have received many felt reports from the area."

It was not clear if the sequence has finished yet, and prolonged earthquake swarms were a regular feature of the Taupo Volcanic Zone.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

One near Matata in the mid-2000's lasted several years.

Further south, the Tongariro-Ngauruhoe area was "very quiet", with just a couple of small earthquakes, and the volcanic tremor at Ruapehu was slowly declining towards normal background levels.

"The lake temperature is now 31C, slowly declining from the recent maximum of 39C."

Mt Taranaki continued its silent watch over the West Coast of the North Island, he said.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Eighteen Lotto players win over $19k each – where tickets were sold

11 May 04:29 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

11 May 04:25 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

Swift destruction of boy racer vehicles proposed, more powers for police

10 May 10:24 PM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Eighteen Lotto players win over $19k each – where tickets were sold

Eighteen Lotto players win over $19k each – where tickets were sold

11 May 04:29 AM

Two players shared the First Division prize, snagging $500,000 each.

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

'About time': Residents sick of 'boy racers' back Govt plan to toughen laws

11 May 04:25 AM
Swift destruction of boy racer vehicles proposed, more powers for police

Swift destruction of boy racer vehicles proposed, more powers for police

10 May 10:24 PM
'Devastating to see': Family battles for toddler's movement progress

'Devastating to see': Family battles for toddler's movement progress

10 May 10:00 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP