The SE part of the fissure within Ruawahia crater reveals stratigraphy from the circa 700 BP Kaharoa and 1886 CE eruptions. The 35-m-thick light-colored Kaharoa Plinian deposits at the base are largely obscured by talus fans of scoria from above. The thick overlying bright red scoria is from phase 2 of the 1886 eruption. Above it is a thin black zone (phase 3) consisting of very widespread scoria. Phase 4 (at the top) consists of white rhyolitic blocks ripped off the walls during the vent widening in the last half hour of the 10 June 1886 eruption.

Photo by Bruce Houghton (Wairakei Research Center).

This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license terms.

Galleries: Volcanic Outcrops

Keywords: stratigraphy | scoria | outcrop | tephra

Okataina