The Ruapehu Lahar
What is a lahar?
What is a lahar? A lahar is when the water and mud in the crater of a volcano keeps rising until it breaches the sides and top of the volcano and flows down the side of the mountain. The force of this water and mudflow can be terrifying and as much as 1.3 million cubic metres of debris spewed from the summit and down the Whangaehu River to the sea near Wanganui which is 140km away during this lahar.
This event was expected and has been anticipated by many scientists and DOC (Department of Conservation workers) for quite some time. There has been much planning and preparation for this occasion and the result was within the desired and expected outcomes, no loss of lives, no animals injured and minimal damage to the landscape. It was a roaring success in this regard and one DOC scientist, Harry Keys, was well pleased with his predictions and the results from this experience.
The last time this event occurred was in 1951 and 151 lives were lost as a consequence. We have learned our lessons well. The attentiveness of our current scientists that alerted us to the situation and the possibility of the same disaster have been averted. The conservation minister, Chris Carter was well pleased with the results. The memorial at Tangiwai will need to be “cleaned up and restored” but that is a minor restoration and more preferable outcome than some of the other possibilities.
Since this spectacular event occurred on Sunday, 18 March, 2007 there have been a series of small tremors recorded by the sensors at the summit. The earthquakes measuring up to a magnitude 1which can be attributed to the rapid removal of the water from the hydrothermal system.
There have been many tourists coming to the area to see the damage for themselves and they are being warned to take care and be mindful of the workers who have been assessing the damage and clearing up the mess. There are three volcanoes in the Tongariro National Park, Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. The highest of them is Ruapehu standing at 2,797m (9,176 ft) high and it is the most southern volcano. It is also the busiest with an eruption in 1945 and the lahar in 1953 and eruptions in 1995 and 1996.
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13 Responses to “The Ruapehu Lahar”
On April 4, 2007 at 4:17 am
Nice article. How about I regularly click on your articles and you click on mine to guarantee some extra money? Post me a comment on one of my articles like The Apprentice to let me know. Take care
On April 16, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Well you learn something new every day I had never heard of a lahar before let alone one just happening. I am happy that no lives were taken and only minimal damage.
On April 27, 2007 at 1:29 pm
This was a really interesting article. You did a good job Lucy!
On May 25, 2007 at 2:49 am
Great stuff. Interesting article.
On June 14, 2007 at 1:48 am
Made me feel like i was in science class. I am more of an arts type person so not for me but at least i learned something today
On September 11, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Very interesting and informative. A lahar is new to me. I guess you keep up on the latest in your part of the world. 140 km., thats a little less than 100 miles. Hope it has performed its last lahar incident. You composed this article perfect…as usual. Thank you Lucy.
On September 18, 2007 at 10:07 pm
great stuff very interesting
On September 18, 2007 at 10:09 pm
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On September 18, 2007 at 10:14 pm
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On May 4, 2008 at 6:19 am
Wonderful and informative. I learn something new today!
On May 4, 2008 at 7:20 am
nice article, we also have thousands of tons of lahar here when Mt.Pinatubo erupted in 1991, it caused so much damaged, many towns were buried due to lahar aside from the floods it caused,it’s terrible.
On May 4, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Very interesting and informative article! I learned something indeed!
On May 6, 2008 at 7:27 am
I just had to re-visit this article of yours. Remind me to never discuss geography or earth science with you. I found Wanganui to be located on the north island? So that wasn’t too far from you. N.Z. is busy with geographycal incidences. Your articles are always full of new knowledge. One just has to use Google or a good encyclopedia to unraval the meaning of the words. Thanks, Lucy. Amazing article.
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