DEtermining VOlcanic Risk in Auckland-DEVORA

11/09/2026

From the field to emergency response!🌋

What would happen if volcanic unrest began in the Auckland Volcanic Field? This year’s postgraduate geohazards students got to find out!💡👀

Over two action-packed days, students from the School of Environment, The University of Auckland, took their learning beyond the classroom and into the Auckland Volcanic Field. Visiting several of Tāmaki Makaurau’s volcanic centres, they explored the challenges of assessing volcanic hazards and managing risk in one of the world’s few cities built across a potentially active volcanic field.

The field trip also provided an opportunity to learn more about the cultural significance and history of our maunga. A huge thank you to Mangere Mountain Education Centre for welcoming us to Te Pane o Mataaho / Māngere Mountain and sharing the stories and knowledge connected to one of the city’s most special and best-preserved volcanic centres. 🏔️

Then it was time to put that knowledge to the test! Back at the University the next day, students took on the roles of scientists, emergency managers and other key decision-makers in a simulated Auckland Volcanic Field unrest situation. As the scenario unfolded, they had to respond to new information, make difficult decisions, work together under pressure and coordinate an emergency response. 🧠🚨

After a fast-paced day filled with plenty of discussion, difficult decisions and a healthy dose of chaos, the students successfully navigated the scenario and evacuated the public to safety in time! 🤝

It was a fantastic two days of field-based learning, teamwork and critical thinking, giving students a glimpse into the complex challenges involved in preparing Auckland for its next volcanic event.

📸 Click through the photos below to see what the students got up to!

28/08/2026

Dr. Alutsyah Luthfian's ('Fian') PhD thesis titled "Shallow Crustal Structural Controls on Vent Location in the Auckland and Whangārei Volcanic Fields" is now available to read online 🎉

Fian's research, supervised by Dr. Jennifer Eccles (UoA) and Dr. Craig Miller (ESNZ), used geophysical methods to uncover valuable insights into these volcanic fields, helping to enhance Auckland's preparedness for future eruptions. Congratulations Fian 🌋🙌

Check it out: https://hdl.handle.net/2292/76299

📸: Fian carrying out his gravimetry fieldwork in Devonport.

28/08/2026

25/08/2026

19/08/2026

It is an exciting time for Tāmaki Makaurau with the opening of our three City Rail Link (CRL) stations, a project almost a century in the making! 🚆

What blows me away most is the design of the Maungawhau (Mt Eden) station. Lead mana whenua artist Tessa Harris (Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki) has created an art installation for the foyer walls of the new Maungawhau station, which deeply honours the Auckland Volcanic Field, beautifully weaving all 53 volcanic cones, ancestral whakapapa, and modern design into its architecture, with a striking central piece dedicated to Maungawhau itself 🌋 🎨

Maungawhau Station’s design is inspired by Mataaho, atua of volcanoes, who once lived in the crater of nearby Maungawhau. The station entrance is floor-to-ceiling, featuring a precast concrete pattern with basalt inserts excavated from the project and wider area, holding the mauri of the mountain. 53 lava-coloured cast-glass triangles are set into it, arranged as a map of volcanic cones across Tāmaki Makaurau. The large central triangle represents Maungawhau itself, and the running water feature references the basalt caverns, caves, and freshwater springs below the maunga, as well as the way water needs rock to flow (📸 #2 - #4).

During the CRL construction in 2019, the micro-tunnel boring machine, Jeffie, struck a 1 m tree fragment 15 m below the surface, beneath an ancient lava flow. The extracted charred wood was sent to our team for radiocarbon dating, where we confirmed it was 28,000 years old, confirming that Maungawhau erupted during the Last Ice Age. This aligned perfectly with other dating techniques, removing any lingering doubts about Maungawhau's true age (📸 #5). We use volcano ages to identify eruption patterns and to better understand how the Auckland Volcanic Field has behaved in the past - it's like a big puzzle. With this discovery, another piece in that puzzle is slotted firmly into place.

More information:
📹 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZlclRhB3vo
📰 https://www.railexpress.com.au/crl-links-auckland-volcanic-past/
📖 https://cityofvolcanoes.wordpress.com/2020/04/17/older-than-the-hills-date-for-maungawhau-mt-edens-eruption-confirmed/

11/08/2026

The restored volcano of Māngere Lagoon 🌊 🌋

In the late 1950s, plans were proposed to build Tāmaki Makaurau’s new sewage treatment scheme on Motukorea Browns Island. A public campaign led by mayoral candidate Sir Dove-Myer Robinson successfully protected the island and the Waitematā Harbour, resulting in the project being relocated to the Māngere foreshore instead, which, at the time, was less favoured and less populated. The decision dramatically reshaped the landscape. More than 500 hectares of tidal flats were converted into oxidation and sludge ponds, 13 km of coastline was modified, and two nearby volcanoes were extensively altered. The small scoria cone within Māngere Lagoon was levelled to form the hub of a network of embankments that divided the crater floor into sewage treatment ponds (📸 #1).

For almost 40 years, the lagoon served as a key part of Tāmaki Makaurau’s wastewater treatment system. In the 1990s, advances in land-based treatment technology made the ponds obsolete, leading to Aotearoa’s largest coastal restoration project. Between 1998 and 2005, the oxidation ponds were removed, and the lagoon was restored to a tidal environment (📸 #2).

Today, Māngere Lagoon once again functions as a tidal lagoon, with the scoria cone reconstructed to closely resemble its original shape. Although much of the volcanic landscape has been restored, evidence of human modification remains, including the main wastewater pipeline along the seaward edge of the lagoon (📸 #3).

11/08/2026

A reminder that applications for the Tūpuna Maunga Authority Research Scholarship are now open, and close on 30 August 2026 🌿📚

19/07/2026

Tāmaki Makaurau has many fascinating volcanic features, and the Takapuna Fossil Forest is one of them! An ancient kauri forest was killed and fossilised by passing lava flows erupted by Pupuke Moana 🌳🌋

When Pupuke Moana erupted ~193,000 years ago, sea level was considerably lower than it is today, and this area was home to a forest of small trees and a few larger kauri trees. Takapuna Reef is now composed of the remains of two thin lava flows from the initial Pupuke Moana eruptions, which flowed directly into the forest, setting it on fire. The flows encircled the trees and began cooling and congealing around the tree stumps, forming basalt lava moulds that preserved the shapes of the trees before they burned away 🔥

To see this fossil forest, go out for a walk along the Milford-Takapuna coastal walk on a nice sunny day ☀️

📸 #1: Hayward (1997)
📸 #2: Illustrated by Hugh Grenfell