A summary about Lake Taupo

The intense seismic activity beneath Lake Taupō (Taupō-nui-a-Tia) continues.

The earthquake swarm itself has occurred at roughly regular intervals of approx. 30 quakes per week. Since the swarm began in May, the rate has been more-less constant, but the local observatory GeoNet New Zealand has registered about 490 events at depth less than 30 km so far.

The distribution of earthquakes has formed into two clusters (see attached image) in the central part of the lake. The smaller, western cluster is located around Karangahape Cliffs and the larger, eastern cluster is centered north-east of Horomatangi Reef.

Another image depicts a number of earthquakes since 2000 including both M 3.6 quakes on 17 May and 11 July.

GPS instruments detected a ground deformation around the lake showing a horizontal uplift by 12 mm.

GeoNet New Zealand continues: Taupō Volcanic Centre is part of the Taupō Volcanic Zone, a tectonically very active region with many known faults and active volcanism. Activity in this region is often related to a mix of regional deformation processes and the magmatic system under the volcanoes. While the observations beneath Lake Taupō to date represent an increase to the normal background activity, they do not stand out with respect to previous periods of unrest in 2008-2009 and 2019 (see Figure 2). We believe that the 2022 earthquakes and ground deformation are similar to those of 2008-2009 and 2019, which has helped to inform our view that Volcanic Alert Level 0 is currently appropriate for the Taupō Volcanic Centre.

The Volcanic Alert Level remains at 0.

Source: GeoNet New Zealand volcano activity update 24 August 2022