CRATER FULL

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 39, 15 August 1945, Page 9

CRATER FULL

REPORTS ON RUAPEHU'"

WO DANGER FEARED "I cannot see any potential danger from tlie mountain," > reported Mr. Horace Fyfe, field geologist, in a letter received by Mr. M. Ongley, Director of the Geological Survey. Mr. Fyfe and Mr. Allan Beck, another geologist, have been observing the activity at Mount Ruapehu. "It seems to me," he continued, "to be a normal.volcanic type of eruption, with tholoid building and minor explosive outbursts, and so long as it keeps on that way there is j no cause for anxiety. "As far as I am aware no rock fragments have been thrown more than a mile from the crater, and the majority fall within, say, a quarter of a mile. I don't know whether it will ever get to the stage of emitting lava." Commenting on a new series of photographs of the mountain which was received yesterday from the Royal New Zealand Air Force, Mr. Ongley said- that the crater lake had practically disappeared, and the crater was no longer hollow. "If it rises much more* it must go over the top," he added". The quantity of steam shown was much the same as appeared in photographs taken in March. Writing on August 9 Mr. Fyfe said that the earthquakes reported from National Park, Ongarue, and other localities handy to the mountain had not been felt at the Chateau. Some time previously some earthquakes had been felt there, though, they had not been reported elsewhere. "So possibly 95 per cent, of the reported earthquakes are just 'jitters,'" commented Mr. Fyfe. "If not, they are shallow local shocks." In a letter dated August 13 Mr. Fyfe reported that there were two good "shots" from Ruapehu on Saturday morning, one at 10.30 a.m. and the other an hour later. Both were seen from the Chateau. A third, at 12.45 pto., was not- observed by Mr. Fyfe. The first sent up a vertical column of steam and ash with cauliflower convolutions that rose to a height of 5000 feet and drifted about a mile to the north-east .of the crater on a gentle, breeze. Two similar columns were sent up by the second "shot." It was far more spectacular, reaching an elevation of 12,500 feet. No detonations were heard with any of these "shots." The top of the mountain was obscured on Saturday afternoon, but two Women members of a skiing party made the ascent and obtained a good view of the crater. Five vents were then active, some emitting steam, others "glowing gas," and showing redhot rock close to the vents. Messrs. Fyfe and Beck attempted to climb the mountain on Sunday, but visibility was bad, and the attempt was abandoned a third of the way up. Mr. Fyfe said that occasional minor jolts were felt at the Chateau. One at 8.35 p.m. on Friday rattled all the windows like the blast from a big gun, and upset a • ping-pong game" by rattling the table.