Lake Taupo is the caldera (hollow centre) of the Taupō Volcano which is a supervolcano.
This wider region is called the Taupō Volcanic Zone, which is still an active volcanic zone today.
So does that mean the volcano under Lake Taupo could erupt again now? Although the region is still very active volcanically, the last time the Taupo Volcano erupted was about 1800 years ago.
That eruption, which expanded the lake and caldera we see as Lake Taupo today, was the world’s most powerful known volcanic eruption in the past 5000 years – a mere blink in geological time.
Over 20,000 years before that a much more powerful eruption called the Oruanui eruption occured and this is what originally created the caldera (the huge hole as a result of the massive blow out of the volcano’s magma chamber) that Lake Taupo sits in today.
Although anything can happen when it comes to a highly volcanic part of the world like New Zealand’s north island, the Taupō Volcano under Lake Taupo is not expected to erupt again any time soon.
More about the Taupo volcano:
Is Taupo dormant?
The Taupō Volcano - the caldera where Lake Taupo sits - is considered an inactive volcano today because it last erupted 1800 years ago. However the Taupō Volcanic Zone is still a highly active volcanic region within which Lake Taupo is situated. This zone has been volcanically active for 2 million years and is not dormant today.