Mount Tarawera Erupts and Buries the Pink and White Terraces

In the early hours of 10 June 1886, a violent volcanic eruption shattered the central North Island of New Zealand. Shortly after midnight, a series of increasingly violent earthquakes shook the Rotorua region, followed by flashes of light and loud concussions. By 2:30 a.m., all three summit peaks of Mount Tarawera had burst into life, hurling columns of ash and tephra kilometers into the night sky alongside violent volcanic lightning. Across the mountain, a continuous rift tore open, fed by a rising basaltic dyke that forced its way through a volcanic center traditionally known for rhyolitic eruptions.

The cataclysm intensified significantly around 3:20 a.m. when the southwestward-expanding fissure cut directly into Lake Rotomahana. The sudden contact between boiling magma and the lake waters triggered a violent explosive phase that blasted open new craters in the lake bed. Eruption plumes rose as high as about 11 kilometers, while mud and ash up to a meter deep blanketed the surrounding region. The explosions were heard from Auckland to Blenheim in the South Island, more than 500 kilometers away. By about 6:00 a.m. the main eruption had ended, leaving a rift some 17 kilometers long that ran from the mountain through Lake Rotomahana and into what is now the Waimangu Volcanic Rift Valley.