The monstrous eruption of the volcano Taranaki Maunga in New Zealand “would have erased everything.” Experts believe that this could happen again.
Photos from open sources
New research from the Taranaki Maunga volcano shows that 3,300 years ago, an eruption of superheated ash and wind wiped everything out and made life impossible.
Associate Professor of Volcanology Rafael Torres-Orozco said the ash cloud would have reached the atmosphere at 100 km/h, creating winds with temperatures up to 90 degrees.
“Life would be impossible. It would just erase everything,” Torres-Orozco said.
Taranaki Maunga is a sleeping giant whose next eruption is ‘overdue’, says volcanologist.
“There would be no soil for crops, the atmosphere would be very polluted, and you would not be able to breathe. For a few days everything will be just dark.”
If an eruption of this magnitude repeats, the entire Taranaki region will have to be evacuated, said a volcanologist from Mexico’s University of Veracruzan.
Torres-Orozco visited New Zealand in 2012, and has since published extensive research on Taranaki Maung’s historic eruptions.
“Now he is sleeping, but this is an active volcano. An active volcano is any volcano that has erupted in the past 10,000 years. Taranaki has high seismic activity, so it’s really alive.”
“In terms of eruptions, Taranaki has erupted at least 19 to 20 times in the last 5,000 years. I mean big volcanic eruptions.”
The volcano has not erupted in over 200 years, and the next eruption is “already overdue.”
The scientist believes that the eruption will occur in the next 100 years.
