Researchers are studying how Taupō – home to one of the world's supervolcanoes – and its frequent earthquakes could help predict future disasters.
In a trench on a quiet farm, layers of soil reveal a timeline of eruptions over millennia and how the region's many fault lines had ruptured.
The researchers are studying whether there's a link between the "twin threats" of supervolcanoes and quakes.
While scientists knew volcanoes erupted when pressure built up inside the earth, forcing molten rocks toward the surface, what was less clear was how earthquakes and tectonic shifts might influence the process.
"Do the earthquakes precede eruptions? Do they occur during or after? And do earthquakes on fault lines even trigger large volcanic eruptions?" lead researcher James Muirhead from the University of Auckland said.
How earthquakes could help predict an eruption at Taupō - Watch on TVNZ+
Taupō was one of an estimated 20 to 40 supervolcanoes on Earth. It last erupted 1800 years ago in what was the most violent known eruption worldwide in the last 5000 years.
"Before that eruption, and in the days to years leading up to it, and then during that eruption, most of these faults in this area seem to become active and showed some level of shaking or movement on the fault planes," one researcher said.
Muir added that understanding the relationship between the "twin threats" could "provide us clues, for instance, for what may trigger an eruption, which can help us to better plan our responses in the event of these hazardous events".
The Taupō supervolcano was still considered active and while experts said the probability for a future eruption was low, the risk remained.
The Natural Hazards Commission funded the research to raise awareness and ensured people were prepared.
"There are so many things we can do to prepare and be ready for these things so that they don't have to be these major disasters where the community is severely affected," chief research and resilience officer Jo Horrocks said.
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