Lake Taupo
Crater lake and the largest lake in New Zealand
The Lake Taupo ( Māori: Taupo nui a Tia ) in New Zealand is the crater of a collapsed volcano 26,500 years ago and the largest lake in the country.
Origin of the name
The Māori gave the lake the name Taupo nui a Tia, which translated into German means something like "the great cloak of Tia ". Tia was the leader of the waka Arawa, one of the canoes with the Māori coming from New Zealand Hawaiki populated.
Geography
The lake lies in the Taupo Volcanic Zone in the central region of the North Island of New Zealand. The distance to the coast is respectively about 100 km to the west and east. To the north lie between the lake and the Bay of Plenty around 110 km and to the south is the sea around 125 km away.
The Lake Taupo is 40 km long, 28 km wide and extends with a capacity of about 193 km over an area of 622 km2. He is up to 160 feet deep and its water volume is estimated at about 59 km3. The lake level is depending on water flow and water intake for the power generation, 355.85 m to 357.20 m. The Lake Taupo has more than 30 tributaries that drain an area of about 3487 km2, which corresponds to the 5 1/2-time surface of the lake. The three largest tributaries are the Tongariro River, the Tauranga Taupo River and the Waitahanui River. The discharge takes place exclusively via the Waikato River at the northeastern end of the lake.
The mountain slopes around Lake Taupo rise an average of 500 to 700 meters, where the slopes on the southern edges of the lake are generally higher than on the northern edge. The largest settlements on the lake are the City of Taupo on the Waikato River, followed by the much smaller town of Turangi near the mouth of the Tongariro River. Motutaiko Iceland in the southeast and the much smaller Motuwhara Iceland in the west are the only two islands in the lake. Motutaiko Iceland has a size of 11 hectares and is located 3.4 km away from the shore.
You can reach the lake on State Highway 1, which passes through the east shore, and on the State Highway 32 and State Highway 41, both of which lead past the west by the lake.
Origins of the lake
The emergence of almost the entire lake today goes back to a huge eruption of Taupo volcano, which is now called Ōruanui outbreak and one of the world's most important episodes of the past 250,000 years. The case ejected and in a wide area distributed volcanic material (including ash and pumice ) had a volume of just 1,200 km3, which corresponds to more than one hundred times the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991. At the end of many weeks and months of protracted outbreak of the magma chamber beneath the volcano collapsed, resulting in a so-called Caldera, a 140 km2 large depression formed. Also immediately adjacent areas exhibited by, thereby reducing the range to over 500 km2 enlarged .. The reduction is a total of 500 m have amounted to. The rivers of the 3487 km2 catchment area of the lake today filled the sink with water that eventually the modern city of Taupo a breakthrough to the north is created, causing the lake keeps its current water level. At this breakthrough, the Huka Falls, which are an attraction for tourists and white-water enthusiasts with a height of approximately 11 m arisen.
Colonization and exploitation
On the banks and the mountain slopes above the lake 2006, around 32,400 people lived. The lake enjoys this increasingly popular with older people who move there to spend their twilight years. He is also a popular holiday destination. Although there is a lack of suitable beaches, it attracts vacationers for sailing, sport boat, fishing, and other sports activities. Tourism contributes together with the timber industry most of the gross domestic product of the Taupo region at (1998 total of 750 million NZ $).
The lake is known among anglers for its lake trout and rainbow trout and the trout fishing brings the region annually around 70 million NZ $.