Global Volcanism Program | Auckland Volcanic Field

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Auckland Volcanic Field.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Auckland Volcanic Field.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Auckland Volcanic Field.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Albert Park

Cone

40 m

36° 51' 4" S

174° 46' 12" E

Ash Hill

Tuff cone

19 m

36° 59' 58" S

174° 51' 58" E

Boggust Park Crater

Tuff ring

5 m

36° 57' 19" S

174° 48' 49" E

Duders Hill
Takamaiiwaho

Former cone

Hampton Park

Cone - Crater

35 m

36° 57' 3" S

174° 53' 44" E

Kohuora

Tuff cone

30 m

36° 58' 43" S

174° 50' 34" E

Mangere Lagoon

Tuff ring

19 m

36° 57' 25" S

174° 46' 39" E

Matanginui
Green Hill
Green Mount

Former cone

78 m

36° 56' 24" S

174° 53' 54" E

Matukutureia
McLoughlin's Hill
Matukurua

Cone

73 m

37° 0' 49" S

174° 50' 46" E

Maungakiekie
One Tree Hill

Cone

183 m

36° 54' 0" S

174° 59' 0" E

Maungarahiri
Little Rangitoto

Cone

75 m

36° 52' 31" S

174° 48' 35" E

Maungarei
Mount Wellington

Cone

135 m

36° 53' 35" S

174° 50' 48" E

Maungataketake
Ihumatao
Ellett's Mount

Former cone

76 m

36° 59' 41" S

174° 44' 51" E

Maungauika
North Head

Cone

64 m

36° 49' 40" S

174° 48' 45" E

Maungawhau
Mount Eden

Cone

192 m

36° 52' 41" S

174° 45' 52" E

Motukorea
Brown's Island

Cone

59 m

36° 49' 45" S

174° 53' 46" E

Ohinerau
Mount Hobson

Cone

140 m

36° 52' 40" S

174° 47' 10" E

Ohuiarangi
Pigeon Mountain

Cone

55 m

36° 53' 20" S

174° 54' 11" E

Orakei Basin

Tuff ring

0 m

36° 52' 2" S

174° 48' 49" E

Otahuhu
Mount Richmond

Cone

50 m

36° 55' 57" S

174° 50' 22" E

Otuataua

Cone

64 m

36° 59' 10" S

174° 45' 15" E

Outhwaite Park

Cone

80 m

36° 51' 53" S

174° 46' 13" E

Owairaka
Mount Albert
Te Ahi-ka-a-Rakataura

Cone

152 m

36° 53' 26" S

174° 43' 12" E

Pukaki Lagoon

Tuff ring

0 m

36° 58' 59" S

174° 48' 37" E

Pukeiti

Cone

30 m

36° 59' 2" S

174° 45' 26" E

Pukekawa
Auckland Domain
Grafton

Tuff ring

61 m

36° 51' 34" S

174° 46' 33" E

Pukewairiki

Tuff ring

30 m

36° 56' 39" S

174° 51' 57" E

Pukewiwi
Mount Roskill
Puketapapa

Cone

110 m

36° 54' 46" S

174° 44' 12" E

Rangitoto

Cone

260 m

36° 47' 11" S

174° 51' 30" E

Rarotonga
Mount Smart

Former cone

87 m

36° 55' 6" S

174° 48' 45" E

Takararo
    Cambria, Mount
    Sheep Hill
    Taka-a-raro

Former cone

30 m

36° 49' 28" S

174° 48' 7" E

Takarunga
Mount Victoria

Cone

87 m

36° 49' 36" S

174° 47' 56" E

Te Aponga-o-Tainui
McLennan Hills

Former cone

45 m

36° 55' 45" S

174° 50' 47" E

Te Kopuke
Mount Saint John
Titikopuke

Cone

134 m

36° 53' 1" S

174° 46' 50" E

Te Manurewa o Tamapahore
Wiri Mountain

Former cone

80 m

37° 0' 26" S

174° 51' 30" E

Te Motu-a-Hiaroa
Puketutu

Cone

65 m

36° 57' 55" S

174° 44' 50" E

Te Pane-o-Mataaho
Mangere Mountain

Cone

106 m

36° 56' 59" S

174° 46' 59" E

Te Pou Hawaiki
Epsom Avenue
Owhatihue

Former cone

120 m

36° 52' 40" S

174° 46' 5" E

Te Puke o Tara
Smales Mount
Otara Hill

Former cone

89 m

36° 56' 50" S

174° 53' 54" E

Te Tapuwae a Mataoho
    Robertson, Mount
    Robertson Hill
    Sturges Park

Cone

78 m

36° 56' 55" S

174° 50' 30" E

Te Tatua-a-Riukiuta
Three Kings
Big King

Cone

133 m

36° 54' 11" S

174° 45' 17" E

Te Tauoma
Purchas Hill

Former cone

50 m

36° 53' 14" S

174° 50' 51" E

Te Taurere
Taylors Hill

Cone

56 m

36° 51' 51" S

174° 52' 12" E

Craters

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Cemetary Crater

Maar

33 m

36° 59' 23" S

174° 50' 28" E

Crater Hill

Crater

30 m

36° 59' 13" S

174° 49' 38" E

Onepoto

Maar

1 m

36° 48' 29" S

174° 45' 0" E

Puhinui Craters

Maar

22 m

37° 0' 53" S

174° 49' 59" E

Pupuke, Lake

Maar

-57 m

36° 46' 48" S

174° 45' 58" E

Styaks Swamp

Former crater

20 m

36° 56' 10" S

174° 54' 1" E

Te Hopua a Rangi
Gloucester Park

Maar

0 m

36° 55' 46" S

174° 47' 5" E

Te Kopua Kai-a-Hiku
Panmure Basin

Maar

0 m

36° 54' 18" S

174° 50' 58" E

Te Kopua-o-Matakamokamo
Tank Farm

Maar

1 m

36° 48' 6" S

174° 45' 12" E

Waitomokia
Mount Gabriel

Former crater

20 m

36° 58' 37" S

174° 46' 13" E

Whakamuhu
Saint Heliers
Glover Park

Maar

38 m

36° 50' 50" S

174° 52' 3" E

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

241020

1446 CE

260 m / 853 ft

36.89°S
174.81°E

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Cluster

Volcano Types
Volcanic field

Rock Types

Major
Trachybasalt / Tephrite Basanite
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Foidite

Tectonic Setting

Intraplate
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

1,049,110
1,049,110
1,222,436
1,446,768

Geological Summary

The 600 km² Auckland Volcanic Field, at the south end of the Northland Peninsula, is overlain by New Zealand's largest city, Auckland / Tamaki Makaurau. This northernmost Quaternary volcanic field of the Auckland Intraplate Province is dominated by intraplate alkali basaltic to basanitic rocks. Fifty-three volcanic centers, comprised of maars, tuff rings, small lava shields, and scoria cones, are within an elliptical zone ~30 km long (N-S) and ~20 km wide (E-W) (Hopkins et al., 2017; Hopkins and Smid, et al., 2020). The first eruptions in the field began about 193,000 years ago, but over half of the volcanoes formed in the past 60,000 years, and there are 19 known eruptions within the last 20,000 years; only Rangitoto has been active during the Holocene (Needham et al., 2011; Hopkins et al., 2017). An eruption between 1400 and 1450 CE built the 6-km-wide Rangitoto Island, the largest volcano in the field, consisting of multiple scoria cones that cap a low shield with a broad apron of lava flows.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Cassidy J, France S J, Locke C A, 2007. Gravity and magnetic investigation of maar volcanoes, Auckland volcanic field, New Zealand. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 159: 153-163.

Heming R F, Barnet P R, 1986. The petrology and petrochemistry of the Auckland volcanic field. Roy Soc New Zeal Bull, 23: 64-75.

Hopkins J L, Smid E R, Eccles J D, Hayes J L, Hayward B W, McGee L E, van Wijk K, Wilson T M, Cronin S J, Leonard G S, Lindsay J M, Németh K, Smith I E M, 2020. Auckland Volcanic Field magmatism, volcanism, and hazard: a review. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 64 (2-3), 213-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/00288306.2020.1736102

Hopkins J L, Wilson C J N, Millet M-A, Leonard G S, Timm C, McGee L E, Smith I E M, Smith E G C, 2017. Multi-criteria correlation of tephra deposits to source centres applied in the Auckland Volcanic Field, New Zealand. Bulletin of Volcanology 79 (7), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-017-1131-y

Houghton B F, Wilson C J N, Rosenberg M D, Smith I E M, Parker R J, 1996. Mixed deposits of complex magmatic and phreatomagmatic volcanism: an example from Crater Hill, Auckland, New Zealand. Bull Volcanol, 58: 59-66.

IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth's Interior.

Johnson R W, Knutson J, Taylor S R (eds), 1989. Intraplate Volcanism in Eastern Australia and New Zealand. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ Press, 408 p.

Nairn I A, Cole J W, 1975. New Zealand. Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields, Rome: IAVCEI, 22: 1-156.

Needham A J, Lindsay J M, Smith I E M, Augustinus P, Shane P A, 2011. Sequential eruption of alkaline and sub-alkaline magmas from a small monogenetic volcano in the Auckland Volcanic Field, New Zealand. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 201 (1-4), 126-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2010.07.017

Rout D J, Cassidy J, Locke C A, Smith I E M, 1993. Geophysical evidence for temporal and structural relationships within the monogenetic basalt volcanoes of the Auckland volcanic field, northern New Zealand. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 57: 71-83.

Shane P, Hoverd J, 2002. Distal record of multi-sourced tephra in Onepoto Basin, Auckland, New Zealand: implications for volcanic chronology, frequency and hazards. Bull Volcanol, 64: 441-454.

Smith I E M, Allen S R, 1993. Volcanic hazards at the Auckland Volcanic Field. New Zeal Ministry Civil Defense, Volc Hazards Inf Ser, 5: 1-34.

Sporli K B, Eastwood V R, 1997. Elliptical boundary of an intraplate volcanic field, Auckland, New Zealand. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 79: 169-179.

Eruptive History

There is data available for 2 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.

1446 ± 5 years Confirmed Eruption

Episode 1 | Eruption

Rangitoto, Rangitoto 2

1446 ± 5 years - Unknown

Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (calibrated)

List of 1 Events for Episode 1 at Rangitoto, Rangitoto 2

	Start Date	End Date	Event Type	Event Remarks
	- - - -	- - - -	Tephra

1397 ± 7 years Confirmed Eruption

Episode 1 | Eruption

Rangitoto, Rangitoto 1

1397 ± 7 years - Unknown

Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (calibrated)

List of 4 Events for Episode 1 at Rangitoto, Rangitoto 1

Start Date	End Date	Event Type	Event Remarks
- - - -	- - - -	Explosion
- - - -	- - - -	Lava flow
- - - -	- - - -	Lava flow	Entered water.
- - - -	- - - -	Ash

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Auckland Volcanic Field.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Auckland Volcanic Field.

Photo Gallery

Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, is constructed over the 600 km² Auckland Volcanic Field. The field contains more than 50 maars, tuff rings, and scoria cones that were formed during eruptions over the past 193,000 years. Only one volcano was formed during the Holocene. About 620-570 years ago, two phases of eruptive activity formed a low shield volcano capped by a scoria cone at Rangitoto.

Photo by Jim Cole (University of Canterbury).

Rangitoto, a 6-km-wide island seen here from the NW, is the youngest feature of New Zealand's Auckland Volcanic Field. The volcano erupted at least twice, about 620 and 570 years ago, and is capped by a scoria cone containing a deep crater.

Photo by Jim Cole (University of Canterbury).

Motukorea (also known as Brown's Island) in Waitemata Harbour, New Zealand, is composed of a remnant tuff ring (right side), scoria cones (center), and lava flows that form the flat peninsula in the foreground. It is one of more than 50 Pleistocene-to-Holocene centers in the Auckland Volcanic Field. The low-angle slopes of lava flows from Rangitoto are visible to the north in the background.

Photo by B. Thompson (published in Green and Short, 1971).

New Zealand's largest city, Auckland / Tamaki Makaurau, is built on the 600 km² Auckland Volcanic Field. This view looking SW from the summit of Rangitoto volcano shows cones on a peninsula extending into Waitemata Harbor with the city center behind it. North Head (left) and Mount Victoria (right) on the peninsula are two of the more than 50 maars, tuff rings, and scoria cones that have formed in the past 193,000 years. Rangitoto is the only known Holocene volcano.

Photo by Ichio Moriya (Kanazawa University).

Mangere Lagoon is a tuff ring within the Auckland Volcanic Field, seen here from the south in 2018, with the Mangere Mountain scoria cone to the upper right. Rangitoto is in the distance.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

Mangere Lagoon is a tuff ring that formed during a phreatomagmatic eruption in the Auckland Volcanic field. The activity has been linked to the Mangere scoria cone behind it (immediately to the upper left). Rangitoto is to the upper left of this 2018 view from the SW.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

Mangere Mountain is a monogenetic cone within the Auckland Volcanic Field with spatter and scoria components, and several craters with extensive lava flows. The Mangere Lagoon tuff ring is to the upper right in this 2018 view from the NE.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

Maungawhau or Mount Eden is seen here in 2018 with the Auckland city center in the background. It is a scoria cone with a 50-m-deep crater and surrounding lava flows, and is one of around 50 vents within the Auckland Volcanic Field.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

Ōhinerau or Mount Hobson is seen here from the west in 2018. The morphology has been extensively modified by pre-European Māori settlement that was later damaged by quarrying and reservoir construction.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

Mount Roskill or Pukewīwī / Puketāpapa is one of around 53 volcanic centers in the Auckland Volcanic field, seen here in 2018 from the south. The scoria cone was a source of lava flows around 100 ka.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

Mount Victoria or Takarunga is a scoria cone with a horseshoe-shaped crater in the Auckland Volcanic Field, seen here in 2018 from the north with the Waitematā Harbour at the top of the photo.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

Mount Wellington or Maungarei is a scoria cone in the Auckland Volcanic Field with several summit craters that erupted around 10,000 years ago. This 2018 view from the NNW also shows the Panmure Basin or Te Kopua Kai-a-Hiku maar in the background.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

North Head or Maungauika is a scoria cone and tuff ring that formed in the Auckland Volcanic Field around 87 ka. This 2018 view from the east shows the Mount Victoria or Takarunga scoria cone to the upper right and the Auckland city center to the upper left.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

This 2018 photo from the SW shows the North Head or Maungauika scoria cone and Rangitoto in the background. Rangitoto is the largest volcanic feature in the Auckland Volcanic Field and unlike the other monogenetic centers, it formed over at least two eruptive episodes.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

The One Tree Hill or Maungakiekie scoria cone has several summit craters and formed extensive lava flows during one of the larger eruptions of the Auckland Volcanic Field. This 2018 view is looking towards the SE with the Auckland city center in the background.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

Pigeon Mountain or Ōhuiarangi is a scoria cone that has been modified by quarrying, seen in the triangular grassy area near the center of the photo. Rangitoto volcano is in the background of this 2018 photo showing part of the Auckland Volcanic Field.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

Pūkaki Lagoon or Te Pūkaki Tapu-o-Poutukeka is a maar crater within the Auckland Volcanic Field, seen here in 2018.

Photo by Bruce Hayward, 2018.

GVP Map Holdings

Maps are not currently available due to technical issues.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Auckland Volcanic Field in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

MIROVA

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

MODVOLC Thermal Alerts

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

Volcanic Hazard Maps

The IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk has a Volcanic Hazard Maps database designed to serve as a resource for hazard mappers (or other interested parties) to explore how common issues in hazard map development have been addressed at different volcanoes, in different countries, for different hazards, and for different intended audiences. In addition to the comprehensive, searchable Volcanic Hazard Maps Database, this website contains information about diversity of volcanic hazard maps, illustrated using examples from the database. This site is for educational purposes related to volcanic hazard maps. Hazard maps found on this website should not be used for emergency purposes. For the most recent, official hazard map for a particular volcano, please seek out the proper institutional authorities on the matter.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Auckland Volcanic Field. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Auckland Volcanic Field. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

DECADE Data

The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO₂ to the atmosphere, but installing CO₂ monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere.

Large Eruptions of Auckland Volcanic Field

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).