Lake Taupō and its surrounds. Photo: Dougal Townsend, GNS Science
The alert level for the Taupō volcano has been lowered to zero.
The latest unrest started in May last year and just over 1800 earthquakes under Taupō volcano have been recorded in the past year.
"A combination of magma movement at depth, faults slipping, and hydrothermal fluids has likely been driving the earthquakes and ground deformation observed this last year, GNS Science duty volcanologist Agnes Mazot said in a statement.
"This activity has now paused."
On 30 November 2022 a 5.7 magnitude earthquake occurred at a depth of nine kilometres creating a small tsunami in the lake.
"This movement of the lakebed created a small tsunami in the lake while the ground shaking set off a submarine landslide near Wharewaka Point," Mazot said.
"This created a second local tsunami that flooded the foreshore area. Aftershocks continued through to February 2023; over 820 were located. Another moderate sized earthquake occurred on 5 March."
GNS Science said the rate of shallow earthquakes and changes to the volcano's ground surface have now dropped to typical levels.
The last eruption of the Taupō volcano was in approximately 232AD.
GNS said the chance of an eruption remains low in any one year.
GNS volcanologist Graham Leonard joined Saturday Morning recently to share the history of eruptions and rumbles under the lake and what the unrest means for people living near Taupō.
