A few words and the Longer Story

 

 Mount Tongarir0  is a compound volcano

Mount Ruapehu, or just Ruapehu, is an active stratovolcano

Mount Taranaki,  (  2518-metre  height)    or Mount Egmont, is an active but quiescent stratovolcano in the Taranaki region

Because of its resemblance to Mount Fuji, Taranaki provided the backdrop for the movie The Last Samurai.

Mount Egmont, photo courtesy of the Internet

 

That is the end of my Short Story.  Below  are details, courtesy of the Internet, with more information. While researching this, I did have a Geography and History lesson!!!

The  Longer Story

Mount Ngauruhoe is an active stratovolcano or composite cone in New Zealand, made from layers of lava and tephra. It is the youngest vent in the Tongariro volcanic complex on the Central Plateau of the North Island, and first erupted about 2,500 years ago. Although seen by most as a volcano in its own right, it is technically a secondary cone of Mount Tongariro.

The volcano lies between the active volcanoes of Mount Tongariro to the north and Mount Ruapehu to the south, to the west of the Rangipo Desert and 25 kilometres to the south of the southern shore of Lake Taupo.

The last major eruption was in 1975

Mount Tongariro is a compound volcano, consisting of 12 cones. The last eruptions were in 2012, the 6^th August one after a month of increased activity. was large, with cloud, ash and rocks thrown out. Flight paths were altered, airspace within a 12 kilometre radius was closed, later open to visual flights only. Large rock particles up to a metre in size landed about 2 km from the vent. State highways were closed due to ash and poor visibility. On 21^st November there was another eruption, with no warning.

Mount Ruapehu, or just Ruapehu, is an active stratovolcano and includes three major peaks: Tahurangi (2,797 m), Te Heuheu (2,755 m) and Paretetaitonga (2,751 m). The deep active crater fills with warm acidic water, and when the level rises above the normal outlet, an eruption occurs with a lahar. ( A lahar is a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley)

The 1945 eruption emptied the crater lake and dammed the outlet with tephra.

The crater slowly refilled with water, until on 24 December 1953 the tephra dam collapsed causing a lahar in the Whangaehu River. The lahar caused the Tangiwai disaster, with the loss of 151 lives, when the Tangiwai railway bridge across the Whangaehu River collapsed while the lahar was in full flood, just before an express train crossed it. It was already known that the river had partially undermined one of the bridge piers and the lahar finished the job, causing the bridge to collapse. Although warned of the collapsed bridge, the train driver was unable to stop the train in time and six of the carriages fell into the river.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were visiting New Zealand when the disaster at Tangiwai happened. Queen Elizabeth made her Christmas broadcast from Auckland, finishing with a message of sympathy to the people of New Zealand. Prince Philip attended a state funeral for many of the victims.

In 1995, 1996, 2006, 2007 there have been eruptions, in 2008, 2011 and 2012 warnings were issued.

ERLAWS, the Eastern Ruapehu Lahar Alarm and Warning System, is a lahar warning system installed on Mount Ruapehu, This was put in place after the 1995 eruption. On the Desert Road there are warning signals, flashing lights, and road closures if flash flooding occurs.

 

Quotation of the day from Albert Einstein,

“Learn from yesterday, 

live for today, hope for tomorrow”

Greetings from Jean