Volcano and lake Taupo (356m- 1,167ft)
New Zealand (North Island)
In Orakei Korako on the Waikato, oil on canvas 1885, Museum of New Zeland /Te Papa Tongarewa
The volcano and the caldera lake
Lake Taupō is a lake in the North Island of New Zealand. It is in the caldera of the Taupō Volcano.
This huge volcano has produced two of the world’s most violent eruptions in geologically recent times. The Taupō Volcano forms part of the Taupō Volcanic Zone, a region of volcanic activity that extends from Ruapehu in the South, through the Taupō and Rotorua districts, to Whakaari/White Island, in the Bay of Plenty region. Taupō began erupting about 300,000 years ago, but the main eruptions that still affect the surrounding landscape are the Oruanui eruption, about 26,500 years ago, which is responsible for the shape of the modern caldera, and the Hatepe eruption, dated 232 ± 5 CE. However, there have been many more eruptions, with major ones every thousand years or so (see timeline of last 10,000 years of eruptions). Considering recent history alone, the volcano has been inactive for an unusually long period of time, but considering its long-term activity, it was inactive for much longer between 8100 and 5100 BCE (3,000 year inactivity, compared to the current 1,800 years). Some volcanoes within the Taupō Volcanic Zone have erupted far more recently, however, notably a violent VEI-5 eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886, and frequent activity of Whakaari/White Island, which erupted most recently in December 2019.
The painter
Charles Blomfield was a New Zealand decorator, artist and music teacher born in London, England.
A widow, Blomfield's mother brought her family to New Zealand in the 1860's intending to settle in Northland as part of a settlement called Albertland. On arrival in Auckland they decided not to proceed on Northland to become farmers but to pursue urban trades in Auckland. The family remained in Auckland after that and many of the descendants of the various children still reside in the Auckland area.
More about the painter
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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
