Okataina
New Zealand · Lava dome · -38.16, 176.51 · volcano number 241050
Nothing above background is currently reported at this system. For a volcano outside the United States and Japan that means only that it is not in the Smithsonian's weekly report, not that it is quiet.
What this system is
| Type | Lava dome |
|---|---|
| Country | New Zealand |
| Position | -38.16, 176.51 |
| Why it is on this list | named supereruption |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 2 significant earthquakes and 5 significant eruptions at or within 40 km of this volcano since 1886.
The deadliest was the 10 June 1886 VEI 5 eruption (Okataina, New Zealand), which killed 153 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 6.6, on 2 March 1987 (New Zealand: North Island, Whakatani, Edgecumbe).
The most recent entry is the October 2015 eruption (Okataina, New Zealand), which killed one person.
Across the entries that record a death toll, 163 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 June 1886 | VEI 5 eruption | Okataina, New Zealand | 153 dead |
| 30 August 1903 | VEI 1 eruption | Okataina, New Zealand | 4 dead |
| 1 April 1917 | VEI 1 eruption | Okataina, New Zealand | 2 dead |
| 2 March 1987 | magnitude 6.6 earthquake | New Zealand: North Island, Whakatani, Edgecumbe | 1 dead, $210 million damage |
| 18 July 2004 | magnitude 5.4 earthquake | New Zealand: North Island: Rotorua, Tauranga | 1 dead, damage $1 to 5 million |
| October 2015 | eruption | Okataina, New Zealand | 1 dead |
| 13 December 2013 | eruption | Okataina, New Zealand | 1 dead |
A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
What this rests on
A rhyolitic caldera complex in the Taupo Volcanic Zone with a high rate of explosive eruptions, the most recent of them basaltic.
That sentence is ours. A fuller account, with its own citations, is where to check it. It was a quotation from the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program until September 2026, when their terms stopped being compatible with a site carrying advertising.
Who watches it
GeoNet (GNS Science) monitors this system and publishes its alert level. https://www.geonet.org.nz/volcano
In an eruption, that observatory is the authority. This page follows it; it does not compete with it.
Other systems tracked
Where these numbers come from
National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Volcanic Eruptions Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. doi:10.7289/V5JW8BSH Licence: NOAA NCEI: access to this dataset is unrestricted (US federal work, public domain). Positions and eruption records come from that database; the sentence above is ours. Alert levels come from the publishing observatory.