In New Zealand, the supervolcano known as Lake Taupo to the south of the city of Taupo just had its alert level raised for the first time on record. This change was made in response to a series of several hundred earthquakes and volcanic uplift which has been detected in the eastern section of the lake, meaning that magma and hydrothermal fluids are on the move. Although these swarms are not as energetic as previous episodes of unrest, they are related to the movement of magma at depth. This video will discuss the implications of this earthquake swarm, and how common periods of seismic unrest are at this supervolcano.

Geonet volcano alert levels: https://www.geonet.org.nz/volcano

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Graphics of eruption dates are courtesy of the Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution. https://volcano.si.edu/
Images with a list of eruption dates have their dates sourced from the GVP of the Smithsonian Institution.

Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers

Thumbnail Photo Credit: NASA Worldview, EOSDIS Worldview, Terra / Modis

Note: Usage of NASA imagery does NOT convey an endorsement of this youtube channel, GeologyHub, or any advertisements shown at the beginning, during the video, or at the end of this video.

0:00 Alert Level at Taupo Raised
1:06 Lake Taupo Overview
1:23 Caldera Forming Eruption
2:16 Volcanic Unrest
2:39 Prior Unrest Episodes
4:30 Conclusion

Creative Commons Licenses used for specific content in this video and/or sections of specific content in this video (such as a photo within a photo), (only parts of this video fall under these licenses, not the entire video):
CC0 1.0: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
CC BY 3.0 NZ: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/nz/
CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sources:
[1] Geonet
[2] Dunbar, N.W., Iverson, N.A., Van Eaton, A.R. et al. New Zealand supereruption provides time marker for the Last Glacial Maximum in Antarctica. Sci Rep 7, 12238 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11758-0, CC BY 4.0
[3] Global Volcanism Program, 2013. Volcanoes of the World, v. 4.11.2 (02 Sep 2022). Venzke, E (ed.). Smithsonian Institution. Downloaded 20 Sep 2022. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.VOTW4-2013.
[4] Global Volcanism Program, 2013. Taupo (241070) in Volcanoes of the World, v. 4.11.2 (02 Sep 2022). Venzke, E (ed.). Smithsonian Institution. Downloaded 20 Sep 2022 (https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=241070). https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.VOTW4-2013
[5] NASA Worldview, EOSDIS Worldview, Terra / Modis
[6] Karátson, D., Biró, T., Portnyagin, M. et al. Large-magnitude (VEI ≥ 7) ‘wet’ explosive silicic eruption preserved a Lower Miocene habitat at the Ipolytarnóc Fossil Site, North Hungary. Sci Rep 12, 9743 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13586-3, CC BY 4.0
[7] Dr Sally Potter, @SallyHPotter (Twitter)