Waimangu Geyser
| Waimangu Geyser | |
|---|---|
| File:Waimangu erupting.jpg | |
 | |
| Location | near Rotorua, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 38°17′S 176°24′E / 38.283°S 176.400°E |
| Eruption height | up to 1,500 feet (460 m) |
The Waimangu Geyser, located near Rotorua in New Zealand, was the most powerful geyser in the world. Its workings were apparently created by the great 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption, which opened an 8-3/4 mile-long fissure down the mountain and through Lake Rotomahana. [1]
The geyser was first seen erupting in 1900. Its eruptions were observed reaching up to 1,500 ft in height, and it excited worldwide interest. As a result of a landslide which changed the water table, the geyser became extinct on November 1, 1904.[2]
The water expelled by the geyser was black with rocks and mud from the surrounding terrain, so the Māori people, indigenous to New Zealand appropriately named the geyser Waimangu, meaning 'Black Waters'. The geyser gave its name to the surrounding geothermal region, the Waimangu Volcanic Rift Valley.
On August 31, 1903, four tourists (sisters Ruby and Catherine Nicholls, David McNaughton, and Joseph Warbrick) were killed after ignoring repeated instructions from the guide to return to a safe distance, after venturing dangerously close to the edge of the geyser. All four were swept away in a sudden violent eruption.[3]
References
- ^ Moore, E. S. (November-December, 1917). "The Active Volcanoes of New Zealand". The Journal of Geology. 25 (8). University of Chicago Press: 708.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ MacLaren, J. Malcolm (November, 1906). "The Source of the Waters of Geysers'". The Geological Magazine. 3 (11). Cambridge University Press: 512.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ United Press Association (August 31, 1903). "WAIMANGU GEYSER - 1903". New Zealand Disasters and Tragedies. Retrieved January 21, 2007.
External links
- Steam Clouds, Waimangu Geyser, New Zealand picture, State Library of Victoria
- Waimangu geyser: the world’s largest, 'Hot springs, mud pools and geysers', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 5 November 2007.
- Images of the Waimangu Geyser from the Alexander Turnbull Library's Unpublished Collections
 | This Bay of Plenty geography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |