Lake Taupo - Volcanic Origins
In 186AD a series of nine volcanic eruptions culminated in the most violent eruption history has ever recorded. In a few short minutes, 30km2 of poisonous ash, rocks, lava and pumice were emitted at speeds of up to 900 km/hr, to a height of 50km. Such was the extent of the volcanic fallout that even the ancient Romans and Chinese were reported to have experienced darkened skies.
The debris was deposited over an area of some 30,000km2 to a depth of tens of metres in some places. The whole of New Zealand's North Island was coated in a thick, toxic ash which destroyed entire forests. Lake Taupo was formed in the crater left by the eruption and remains volcanically active (something you'll notice as you swim through pockets of much warmer water, heated by thermal activity in the lake's depths). Today, at 359m above sea level, the lake measures 616km2. Many people ask, "How deep is Lake Taupo?". At its deepest it is 159m.