Volcanic tremor Volcanic tremor is a distinctive type of ground vibration that can be measured by seismographs. Tremor can be produced by hot volcanic gases passing through cracks on the way to the surface and by the movement of molten rock below and within a volcano. Volcanic tremor is sometimes an early indicator that a dormant volcano is on the way to renewed activity. 12:18 PM
17.6.05
On 14 June 2005 at 10:44 am NZ time, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Chile. Many people in the coastal towns of Iquique and Arica fled inland, but the quake was too deep and too far inland to cause a tsunami. In 1868, a magnitude 9 earthquake offshore from Arica caused a major tsunami that killed thousands of people along the South American coast. The tsunami travelled across the Pacific – it wiped out a Maori village and killed one person in the Chatham Islands and caused extensive damage on Banks Peninsula. 12:34 PM
10.6.05
The biggest shakes What are the most powerful earthquakes that have ever happened in the world? The largest earthquakes have had magnitudes of 9.0 or more. In the 20th century, the most powerful earthquake ever measured occurred in Chile on 22 May 1960 – it was an awesome magnitude 9.5. The earthquake near Sumatra that produced the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004 had a magnitude of at least 9.1. 12:11 PM
3.6.05
Taupo Eruption New Zealand’s most powerful volcano lies beneath the waters of Lake Taupo. The Taupo eruption, probably around 186 AD, was the most violent volcanic eruption on Earth in the last 5,000 years. Catastrophic flows of hot ash and pumice devastated over 20,000 square kilometres of the central North Island. Ash from the eruption circulated around the globe. Dramatic sunsets and erratic weather and growing seasons recorded by the Romans and Chinese were probably results of this eruption. 1:45 PM
