Taupo
New Zealand · Caldera · -38.78, 175.89 · volcano number 241070
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 | Caldera |
|---|---|
| Country | New Zealand |
| Position | -38.78, 175.89 |
| Why it is on this list | named supereruption |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 3 significant earthquakes and 3 significant eruptions at or within 40 km of this volcano since 233.
The deadliest was the 7 May 1846 eruption (Taupo, New Zealand), which killed 63 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 6.0, on 18 August 1895 (New Zealand: Taupo).
The most recent entry is the 30 November 2022 magnitude 5.3 earthquake (New Zealand: Taupo).
Across the entries that record a death toll, 64 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 May 1846 | eruption | Taupo, New Zealand | 63 dead |
| 20 March 1910 | eruption | Taupo, New Zealand | 1 dead |
| 233 | VEI 6 eruption | Taupo, New Zealand | - |
| 18 August 1895 | magnitude 6.0 earthquake | New Zealand: Taupo | - |
| 30 November 2022 | magnitude 5.3 earthquake | New Zealand: Taupo | damage under $1 million |
| 2 March 1956 | magnitude 5.3 earthquake | New Zealand: North Island | damage under $1 million |
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
Lake Taupo fills the caldera of a rhyolitic volcano that has produced two of the most powerful eruptions of the recent geological past.
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.