Scientists increase the alert level for the first time after signs of unrest near a volcano which caused the largest eruption on Earth in the last 5,000 years.
abc.net.au/news/new-zealand-raises-volcano-alert-lake-taupo/101458576New Zealand scientists have increased the alert level for a volcano below the country's biggest lake, which caused the largest eruption on Earth in the past 5,000 years when it last exploded about 1,800 years ago.
It has raised the volcanic alert level to 1 from 0 on a system based on six escalating levels of activityIn a statement, geological agency GeoNet said it had detected almost 700 small earthquakes below Lake Taupo, the caldera created by the giant volcano, and had raised the volcanic alert level to 1 — minor volcanic unrest — from 0. The volcanic alert system is based on six escalating levels, but GeoNet notes that eruptions may occur at any level, and levels may not move in sequence as activity can change rapidly. The Taupo volcano spewed more than 100 cubic kilometres of material into the atmosphere when it last erupted around 200 BC, devastating a large area of New Zealand's central North Island in a period before human habitation.