VOLCANIC ACTIVITY

Waipa Post, Volume 49, Issue 3505, 14 August 1934, Page 4

VOLCANIC ACTIVITY

COLUMN OF STEAM 700 FT. HIGH. RUAPEHU’S FIRST OUTBREAK FOR 39 YEARS. ißy Telegraph. Press Association.) THE CHATEAU, Monday. A column of steam was thrown 300 ft above the highest peak of Mount Ruapehu in an outbreak of volcanic activity from the crater lake at about 5 o’clock on Saturday morning. The disturbance, which is the first of its kind recorded from Ruapehu for 39 years, was witnessed by a party of about 20 persons who hlad just set out from the Chateau for the ski grounds on Scoria Flat. Members of the party were a considerable distance away but they estimated that the column of steam rose about 700 ft above the surface of the crater lake. Owing - to the absence of wind the column remained suspended in the air for about five or six minutes, the top spreading out and giiving the appearance of a giant mushroom. (Three mountaineers who ascended Ruapehu to-day found the crater lake sltiil show ng unmistakeable signs of the disturbance. The waters, instead of being their normal' blue, streaked with sulphur, were the muddy colour of a rivter in flood. However, the sides of the crater bore no evidence of the unusual activity. The last recorded instance of a volcanic outburst from Ruapehu was in 1895, when steam rose to a height of 6000 ft and was witnessed from as far away as the Taupo district. It was described as a. magnificent sight. In this case also the sides of the crater were not affected but in a previous eruption, in 1886 —the first actually recorded in the history of the mountain —thei walls of ice were spattered with blue clay ia,nd mud. Saturday’s disturbance is the first sign of volcanic activity witnessed at National Park for about six weeks. Ngbiuruhoe was then active. Early in June, dur ng exceptional thermal activity at the park, the crater lake on Ruapehu was observed to be steaming violently a’l over.