Crater Lake steaming as usual

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 667, 17 December 1996, Page 19 (Supplement)

Crater Lake steaming as usual

Activity under Ruapehu' s Crater Lake has died back to pre-eruption levels, reports Brad Scott of the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences based in Taupo. That means only 20-30 small earthquakesper day, as is normal, as opposed to the hundreds or even thousands that occurred during the eruptions of spring 1 995 and winter 1996. Steam and gas is venting continuously from the crater, through fumaroles below the old lake level, which is about 50-70 metres below the pre-eruption level. Mr Scott said varying atmospheric conditions made the steam and gas more or less visible on different days. Steam and gas was regularly venting into the crater prior to the eruption, but was released into the bottom of the Crater Lake so

was not as obvious, he said. The Crater Lake is slowly filling and is expected to take three to four years, depending on snowmelt and rainfall.

The Department of Conservation and ECNZ engineers are working on a study this summer to find out if the eastern wall of the crater will be strong

enough to hold the refilled lake. Severe erosion from lahars through the eruption phases is thought to have considerably weakened the wall.