Rumblings in Rotorua
While geothermal belches and rumblings can be quite the novelty for those living outside Rotorua, they are nothing out of the ordinary for the inhabitants of the seismically active area.
Wednesday’s minor eruption on Lake Rd saw boiling mud and steam suddenly appear in the middle of a traffic island – but it’s by no means the first unexpected view for locals into the bowels of the earth.
Not far from Wednesday’s activity, in 1998, two flats had to be demolished on Tarewa Rd after they were damaged when a geyser suddenly surfaced on the outskirts of Kuirau Park. The eruption formed a large hot pool about 10m wide.
In June 2000, a small Mā oriowned reserve on Tarewa Rd that contained five seemingly dormant fumaroles burst back into life shooting hot water and steam at least 10m into the air and sent geothermal water lapping at the doors of neighbouring properties.
In May 2014, about 100m down the road from Wednesday’s eruption, a ‘‘rogue geothermal bore’’ popped its top on a private property on Lake Rd. A huge amount of steam closed the road until contractors capped the bore.
In May of 2018 a large tomo developed on a farm 15km south of Rotorua at Tumunui, creating a minor tourist attraction for a time and was investigated by GNS Science.
More recently, in late June 2019, on the other side of the city near Te Puia, a large mudpool explosively formed in Susan Gedye’s backyard on Meade St.
Her first inkling something was afoot came at 2am when her house started rattling. With remarkable understatement, Gedye told at the time she realised ‘‘something’s not right here’’.
Gedye was relaxed about her situation however, at one point joking she should start charging the curious sightseers.
She also said she was able to move her and her two children in with her father, so she’s ‘‘houseless but not homeless’’.
‘‘I’m just thankful no one was hurt.’’
Speaking months after the event, Gedye said she now believes the mud pool, and her subsequent move back to her father Wayne’s house, was ‘‘part of the plan’’.
‘‘To be able to have her [daughter] grow up with her grandfather, there’s a real beauty to that. Beautiful things have come from it,’’ she said.
At the time of that eruption, GNS volcanologist Brad Scott also outlined what he said were the three scenarios for the site.
‘‘The normal behaviour is for it to cool down and go away,’’ he said.
The other two options were for it to remain active, or the least likely option was for the site to expand. Thankfully for the remaining Meade St residents, their mudpool chose option one.
While most of the rumblings are not a cause for concern, the larger ones can be quite scary.
Big quakes are also not uncommon and on March 2, 1987, a shallow 5.2M quake rolled though Rotorua at 1.35pm, followed by a 6.5M quake just over an hour later.
Known as the Edgecumbe Earthquake, it tore a 7km long rift along the Edgecumbe Fault across the Rangitaiki Plains. Photos from the time show homes destroyed, rail lines warped, and paving smashed.
Nearly every house in the town of Edgecumbe was damaged – one in five with major structural damage –and the commercial area was devastated. The Mt Ruapehu eruptions in 1996 left the city covered in a thin layer of ash that ruined the paint on roofs and cars in Rotorua.