On 5 March, M 4.4 earthquake occurred beneath Lake Taupō.
The quake was located at 10 km depth and shaking was felt particularly along the lake shore. There have been about 20 detected aftershocks, so far.
The event triggered a small-sized tsunami, detected by newly installed tsunami gauges at the time of the earthquake.
Despite the earthquake event, the Volcanic Alert Level remains at Level 1 and the number of quakes per week has decreased gradually since November, even though a slight increase prior to the M 4.4 quake has been monitored.
The GeoNet New Zealand continues: „The recent number and size of earthquakes, including the M4.4 event, is within our expectations for a volcano at minor volcanic unrest. This is confirmed by our other observations to date which show continuous activity, but no significant changes compared to the previous months of unrest. We also did not notice any changes in volcano monitoring indicators following the M4.4 earthquake.“