WHITE ISLAND

Hokitika Guardian, 20 February 1926, Page 2

WHITE ISLAND

THERAIAL ACTIVITY. A TREAIENDOUS OUTBURST. AUCKLAND, .Fob. 18. Clouds of steam on AYliite Island, varying on calm days from eight thousand to toil thousand feet high, havo recently provided a fine spectacle for residents in the Bay of Plenty. This has been due to unusual thermal activity on the island, culminating in the formation of a hcm- blow-h01e,., from which ail enormous volume of steam issues. The commercial venture to exploit sulphur and guano deposits oil the island is not affected. however. After the terrible eruption in 1914 tbc crater bed very quickly assumed more or less permanent features, the most impressive and active being the main steam vent, or blowhole, in tlia centre of tbc crater floor, well removed from tbc possibility of interferemo from any landslide, which may take place after the fashion of the 1914 slide. This blow-hole, except for a series of minor fumaroles anil lesser activities, lias been the safety-valve for the island. Some of the lesser fumnroles havo been blocked by minor -lidos from the crater Malls, but this lias onv tended to increase the force of the main blowhole. Two Meeks ago flic blowhole commenced ejecting unusual volumes of fumes, carrying with them the dense clouds of red oxide dust, giving like effects. The increased prc.ss£*(T M .i, 11lost marked oil calm days. ’ cloud <i| ejected steam reached measured heights varying from eight thousand to ten thousand feet.

Finally on the night of February 3rd., a fault apparently developed at the base of a 200 ft. cliff on the western side of the main blowhole, and some hundreds of yards of cliff collapsed. As this slide happened the pr.sssure of gas and steam underneath blew forth a mass of sulphurous mild, covering for a depth of three inches an area of ten acres, and through tho disturbed earth, as it piled up at theftjbasp of tbi? cliff, created a vent for itself. The actual outlet from tbo vent is 50ft. up the cliff face from the crater floor.

For forty-eight hours after this eruption the air of the entire active area of the crater, surrounded by its towering 1000 ft. walls, was a dense grey mass of dust-impregnated steam. This made inspection of tlie lieu’ activity ininossibe. The resident engineer was subsequently able to make a hurried examination of the disturbance. The main blowhole was ejecting overpowering fumes in flic direction of the now vent, and .find to b? passed coit. stonily. As the wind Mould lan I mile clouds u'oout him. lie had to cover bis face u’itli handkerchiefs to relieve the choking eflVcts of fcho fames. Between, the blowhole and tbc new vent the crater bed is .saueersliaped and covered with massive volcanic boulders. It is entirely smothered with the throe-inch deposit of greyish volcanic mini ejected by the hcmactivity.

From boulder to boulder, and avoiding the fumes from the main blowhole. progress toward the now rent was slow and ticklish. From a position 150 yards from the vent it was obvious that a tremendous volume of superheated gases had been belched forth from under the base of the cliff, creating,a minor landslide and outlet for its force. Its activity is very similar to that of the main blowhole. Superheated, sulphur-impregnated fumes constantly roar out. hut owing to the intense heat steam is not apparent until it has reached a height of fifty or sixty feet. The volume of steam issues up 1000 ft of crater walls and is then caught bv the wind and blown cloudlike away from the island. There is not the same nerve-racking noise as with the main blowhole. T '-- new eruption has lessened the force and noise of the main vent, ami obviously lias rendered the crater even safer than previously. Even should a

landslide block the new vent it is highly probable that the pent up force ** simply would he diverted to the blowhole. The formation of the new vent’s cone is not yet permanent. Occasionally a minor landslide above tho vent will he blown into the air by tremendous force, and the dust thus formed is scattered broadcast over tbo crater floor. These minor disturbances will most probably continue until the cliff face above the vent assumes a harmless hatter, and thus leaves the vent to continue its activity undisturbed. With this new activity and the old blowhole, tin? White Island crater now possesses the two greatest thermal nr.v" tivities of their kind known to the world.