Earthquake Commission IQ

Volcanic Eruption

Introduction

There’s a lot of heat just below the surface of New Zealand. Temperature increases between 15 and 25 ºC per kilometre as you go down into the Earth. Volcanism is an expression of this amazing heat energy but it only occurs in certain places, chiefly where there are major weaknesses within the Earth’s crust. New Zealand’s active volcanoes are associated primarily with subduction processes, where oceanic crust is drawn down beneath continental crust. We also have hot-spot related volcanism such as the Auckland volcanic field.

Mt. Ruapehu in eruption (Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences)

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