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The ~AD1315 Tarawera and Waiotapu eruptions, New Zealand: contemporaneous rhyolite and hydrothermal eruptions driven by an arrested basalt dike system?

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Abstract

A series of large hydrothermal eruptions occurred across the Waiotapu geothermal field at about the same (prehistoric) time as the ~AD1315 “Kaharoa” rhyolite magmatic eruptions from Tarawera volcano vents, 10–20 km distant. Triggering of the Waiotapu hydrothermal eruptions was previously attributed to displacement of the adjacent Ngapouri Fault. The Kaharoa rhyolite eruptions are now recognised as primed and triggered by multiple basalt intrusions beneath the Tarawera volcano. A ~1000 t/day pulse of CO2 gas is recorded by alteration mineralogy and fluid inclusions in drill core samples from Waiotapu geothermal wells. This CO2 pulse is most readily sourced from basalt intruded at depth, and although not precisely dated, it appears to be associated with the Waiotapu hydrothermal eruptions. We infer that the hydrothermal eruptions at Waiotapu were primed by intrusion of the same arrested basalt dike system that drove the rhyolite eruptions at Tarawera. This dike system was likely similar at depth to the dike that generated basalt eruptions from a 17 km-long fissure that formed across the Tarawera region in AD1886. Fault ruptures that occurred in the Waiotapu area in association with both the AD1886 and ~AD1315 eruptions are considered to be a result, rather than a cause, of the dike intrusion processes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Shivaun Hogan for assistance, Jake Lowenstern for advice, and Jim Cole, Brad Scott, Hugh Bibby and Stuart Simmons for helpful reviews of preliminary versions of this paper. The final paper has been significantly improved following reviews by Paul Wallace and Jake Lowenstern, and editorial comments from Julie Donnelly-Nolan. This investigation was partially funded by FRST Contracts IANX0001 and CO5X0203.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RD5, Rotorua, New Zealand

    Ian A. Nairn

  2. Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, 80401, USA

    Jeffrey W. Hedenquist

  3. Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, PO Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

    Pilar Villamor & Kelvin R. Berryman

  4. Geology Dept, University of Auckland, PO Box 90129, Auckland, New Zealand

    Phil A. Shane

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  1. Ian A. Nairn
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  2. Jeffrey W. Hedenquist
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  3. Pilar Villamor
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  4. Kelvin R. Berryman
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  5. Phil A. Shane
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Correspondence to Ian A. Nairn.

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Editorial responsibility: J. Donnelly-Nolan

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Nairn, I.A., Hedenquist, J.W., Villamor, P. et al. The ~AD1315 Tarawera and Waiotapu eruptions, New Zealand: contemporaneous rhyolite and hydrothermal eruptions driven by an arrested basalt dike system?. Bull Volcanol 67, 186–193 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-004-0373-7

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