The Recent Volcanic Eruption in New Zealand

Abstract

UNTIL the report of a trained geologist has been received we must be content with the narratives, often conflicting, of the surveyors and of the Press correspondents who hurried to the scene of the great catastrophe that has recently devastated the wonderland of New Zealand. In the meantime, however, it is possible from the various accounts to trace the leading features of the eruption, and to note their resemblance to those of other recorded volcanic outbursts. It is impossible not to be struck with the analogy between the phenomena exhibited last June in New Zealand and those that accompanied the great Vesuvian eruption in the first century of our era. In both instances a mountain which had never been known to be an active volcano suddenly exploded with terrific violence, filling the air with ashes and stones. At each locality there were the premonitory earthquakes, the thick black pall of volcanic cloud hanging over the mountain, the descent of dust, sand, and hot stones, the discharge of mud, with, so far as known, no outflow of lava, and the overwhelming of an inhabited district under a deep covering of loose volcanic debris.