TARAWERA ERUPTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9096, 3 July 1888, Page 5

TARAWERA ERUPTION.

PROFESSOR THOMAS' REPORT. [BY telegraph.SPEClAL correspond

Wellington, Monday. Owing to tho delay in receiving the manuscript, Professor Thomas' report on the Tarawera eruption has been printed apart from Professor Hutton's, with which it was to have been conjoined. It has just been issued from the Government printing office. It comprises 80 pages, and is illustrated by maps and sketches. The following is a summary of the chief results of the Professor's investigations as stated in the report: —1. The Tarawera mountain was a true volcano. 2. The eruption of 1886 had a deep-seated origin, and on the mountain was a true volcanic cone. 3. The eruption shows the re-establishment of a volcanic vent by the formation of a fissure. 4. A fissure over nine miles in length was formed, and basic lava was ejected. 5. Surface rocks were ejected (a) by steam rising from the depths of the fissures ; (b) by high-pressure steam already existing in the hot ground around Rotomahana which had long been subject to hydrothermal action. 6. The eruption marks the beginning of a new stage in the history of the Tarawera volcano, characterised by basic rocks, whereas the older lavas were acid rhyolites.