HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



J 93 



THE RECENT VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN NEW ZEALAND. 



ROFESSOR A. 

 GEIKIE, F.R.S., 

 has published the 

 following account 

 of this remarkable 

 occurrence in 

 " Nature." Until 

 the report of a 

 trained geologist 

 has been received 

 we must be content 

 with the narratives, 

 often conflicting, of 

 the surveyors and 

 of the Press cor- 

 respondents who 

 hurried to the scene 

 of the great catas- 

 trophe that has re- 

 cently devastated 

 the wonderland of 

 New Zealand. In 

 the meantime, however, it is possible from the 

 various accounts to trace the leading features of the 

 eruption, and to note their resemblance to those of 

 other recorded volcanic outbursts. It is impossible 

 not to be struck with the analogy between the 

 phenomena exhibited last June in New Zealand and 

 those that accompanied the great Vesuvian eruption 

 in the first century of our era. In both instances a 

 mountain which had never been known to be an 

 active volcano suddenly exploded with terrific 

 violence, filling the air with ashes and stones. At 

 each locality there were the premonitory earthquakes, 

 the thick black pall of volcanic cloud hanging over 

 the mountain, the descent of dust, sand, and hot 

 stones, the discharge of mud, with, so far as known, 

 no outflow of lava, and the overwhelming of an 

 inhabited district under a deep covering of loose 

 volcanic debris. 



In a region so subject to earthquake shocks as that 

 which crosses the centre of the North Island of New 

 Zealand in a north-east and south-west direction, it 

 was natural that no special attention should have 

 been given to any greater frequency or violence of the 

 No. 261. — September 1886. 



shocks before the date of this volcanic eruption. 

 But no doubt facts bearing on this subject have been 

 noted by local observers, and will in due course be 

 published. From the newspaper accounts, indeed, 

 there would appear to have been various precursory 

 indications which, in the light of subsequent events, 

 may not have been without importance. It is said, 

 for instance, that the extinct volcano Ruapehu, the 

 highest peak in the North Island, which, since the 

 discovery of New Zealand, has never been known to 

 manifest any activity, began to steam at the top some 

 three weeks before the eruption. A fortnight previous 

 to the catastrophe a wave three feet high suddenly 

 arose on the Lake Tarawera, lying at the foot of the 

 mountain of the same name, and in the very focus of 

 the subsequent disturbance, and washed the boats out 

 of the boat-houses. Doubtless there were other 

 premonitory symptoms, besides earthquake activity, 

 of the approaching event, though only a few days 

 before their destruction, the famous White and Pink 

 Terraces were visited by a party of tourists who 

 observed no unusual vigour in the hot springs there, 

 nor any indication whatever that these fairy-like 

 deposits were so soon to be the theatre of violent 

 volcanic energy. 



About half an hour after midnight on the morning 

 of June 10 the earthquake shocks that are familiar to 

 the inhabitants of the Lake District assumed an 

 altogether unusual vigour and frequency. At the 

 settlement of Wairoa, which is about five miles from 

 the warm lake and sinter terraces of Rotomahana, 

 the ground shook violently for an hour or more, the 

 more powerful shocks following each other at intervals 

 of about ten minutes. The alarmed inhabitants, 

 startled from sleep, ran out of their houses or clung 

 to each other inside for mutual assistance and en- 

 couragement. At last, a few minutes after 2 A.M., a 

 shock of exceptional severity was followed by a 

 deafening roar, and suddenly what is described as a 

 "pillar of fire " rose up from the crest of the mountain 

 range some five or six miles eastward on the opposite 

 side of Lake Tarawera. The top of Mount Tarawera 

 (about 2000 feet high) had been blown into the air, 

 leaving a huge chasm on the flank of the mountain. 

 The glow of the white-hot lava in the interior 



K 



