| Abstract: | The eruption commenced on July 7th 1963 with activity at the summit crater which had been dormant for at least 50 years. Production of lava spatte r characterised the opening stages of the eruption, and although hot lava blocks avalanched down the north-eastern slope no flows were produced. In August a crater opened at a height of approximately 1,000 metres at the head of a north-west trending fissure, the site of the 1960 eruption. Intermittent lava fountaining up to a height of 600 feet took place at the crater which was active throughout the remainder of the eruption, and viscous steep-sided tongues of «aa» lava flowed from it. A new east-west trending fissure 200 feet deep and 400 feet wide opened in September at a height of approximately 240 metres and extended up the slope to a point approximately 660 metres above sea level. From this fissure lavas of more fluid character though identical in mineral composition to tongues issuing from the flank crater flowed into the sea until mid November when activity at the fissure ceased. Whilst the fissure was active gas issued from a vent located immediately beyond it’s uper end. The slopes above the anchorage at Tematu were the site of subsidiary activity. Four small fissures opened at heights of up to 180 metres above sea level from mid-October to February 1964 producing short tongues of «aa» lava which flowed into the water. Emission of small ash clouds at sporadic intervals was noted at a crater situated in the highest fissure during a visit in December, 1963. There was a change from activity of «Strombolian type» with associated production of lava flows at the flank crater from November 1963 when the proportion of ash emitted increased. Ash emission became the predominant type of activity throughout the remainder of the eruption. Although the interval between successive outbursts lengthened progressively during 1964 the activity reached a climax on April 8th when the ash column attained a height of 30,000 feet, the maximum recorded during the course of the eruption. There was also an increase in July culminating in the production of a dense ash cloud 15 miles in diameter on the 26th. The activity entered a new phase in July 1964 when fissures producing lava tongues opened not only on the northern slopes but on the east side of the volcano as well. Activity continued on the opposite side to the north-west quadrant in which it had previously been localised when a fissure with a small crater at it’s head appeared in September on the south-east slopes a few hundred metres above sea level. The infrequency of outbursts during 1965 suggests that the present cycle of activity is waning, and that the volcano will soon become quiescent once more. Structures of interest in the lava flows include channels and tunnels. Hypersthene andesite was produced simultaneously with tholeiitic olivine bearing basalt during the opening stages of the eruption although the lavas produced later were all of the latter type. It is suggested that the hypersthene andesite was formed by magmatic differentiation of an olivine-bearing basalt parent magma, the lighter more acid fraction being tapped first at the beginning of the eruption. Such differentiation could account for similar basalt-andesite associations in older volcanic sequences within the central area. |
