//NEWS: Mt Doom erupts

Photo of a new vent area in west side of Te Maari crater caused by this eruption. source

I’m two days late in reporting this piece of news. Mainly because I’m avoiding most news medias due to the Olympic craze the world is currently suffering from. It was brought to my attention today that there were some volcanic activity brewing in the North Island of New Zealand earlier this week. After over a 100 years of inactivity, a crater called Te Maari, part of Mount Tongariro erupted sending clouds of volcanic ash all over the Taupo region. Disrupting flights to Auckland, covering the roads, farms, huts and animals with ash and giving some frightened sheep an unwanted gray fleece dye-job.

Also causing mini earthquakes and steam clouds. Luckily, no casualties were reported, mainly because there wasn't any lava activity (I really really want to say fortunately, but being the geology enthusiast that I am, I'm deeply disappointed there wasn't any. You know you are too, cause who doesn't like to see exploding lava and ginormous rocks flying? A crater eruption could be one of the coolest volcanic eruptions to watch, because it will go with a big bang, since it is basically a mini caldera (see: Yellowstone) /end of rave). Scientists are still not too sure about the cause of the eruption. It is either because of increased hydrothermal activity below the crater or a direct interaction from the magma. If the cause is the latter, it would take some time to show any signs of magmatic activity. Scientists are calling this incident a little 'hiccup' due to the small scale of this eruption. However, it shouldn't be overlooked considering the recent catastrophic events of the earthquakes NZ has suffered from.


Trivia: The Taupo region was one of the Lord of The Rings filming sites. Specifically, Tongariro National Park is the real life Mordor and Mt Tongariro is really Mt Doom. (sauce)

Now here is one more photo of snow covered Mt Tongariro (and Te Maari) because it's pretty and it deserves one more photo:

I'll be keeping you updated if anymore volcanic activities will be observed. I'm keeping a close a eye on this. I have a feeling this will be interesting.

Editor's Note: Mt Doom is an awesome name for a secret Hideout. But also sort of obvious... plus, would a villain really want to be around a volcano that errupts?