Pouākai Range
{{Short description|Mountain range in New Zealand}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = Pouākai Range
| native_name =
| photo = Pouakai Range, New Zealand, February 2016 05.JPG
| photo_size = 300px
| photo_caption = The Pouākai Range viewed from Mount Taranaki, with the Kaitake Range in the background
| location = North Island, New Zealand
| district =
| parent =
| border =
| geology1 =
| period =
| period1 =
| orogeny =
| range_coordinates =
| area_km2 =
| highest = Pouākai
| highest_location =
| elevation_m = 1395
| coordinates = {{coord|39|14|17|S|174|00|51|E|type:mountain|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| map_image = {{#tag:mapframe|{{Wikipedia:Map data/Northern North Island Volcanics}}|frameless=1
| align =center
| text = Pouākai andesite (red shading) in centre of map. To its south-south-east is the younger and presently larger in andesitic direct deposits volcano of Mount Taranaki. The surrounding debris and lahar fields are not shown but include the green forested area on the map. To its north west are the older volcanoes of the small cone of Pukeiti, then the Kaitake.{{Wikipedia:Map data/Northern North Island Volcanics/key}}
| width =300
| height =300
| latitude =-39.27
| longitude =174.04
| icon =no
| zoom =10
}}
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| age = 250 ka, Pleistocene
| geology = Andesite
| volcanic_arc =
| volcanic_belt = Taranaki Volcanic Lineament
| volcanic_field =
| volcanic_arc/belt =
| last_eruption = 210 ka
}}
The Pouākai Range is an eroded and heavily vegetated stratovolcano in the North Island of New Zealand, located northwest of Mount Taranaki. It consists of the remains of a collapsed Pleistocene stratovolcano. The range is surrounded by a ring plain of lahar deposits from a massive collapse that has been dated as roughly 250,000 years old.{{cite gvp|vn=241813|title=Pouakai|accessdate=2020-06-11}}
The region has been reshaped more recently after each cone collapse from Mount Taranaki.{{Cite web |title=A line of volcanoes - the birth of Taranaki |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GljllvKlTac |publisher=Puke Ariki |date=April 12, 2012 |via=YouTube}}
Geology
The Pouākai Range volcano is situated in the Taranaki Basin and is part of the Taranaki Volcanic Lineament which has had a 30 mm/yr north to south migration over the last 1.75 million years.{{cite journal|first1=Shane J. |last1=Cronin|first2= Anke V. |last2=Zernack |first3= Ingrid A. |last3=Ukstins |first4= Michael B. |last4=Turner |first5= Rafael |last5=Torres-Orozco |first6= Robert B. |last6=Stewart |first7= Ian E. M. |last7=Smith|first8= Jonathan N. |last8=Procter|first9= Richard |last9=Price|first10= Thomas |last10=Platz|first11= Michael |last11=Petterson |first12= Vince E. |last12=Neall|first13= Garry S. |last13= McDonald|first14= Geoffrey A. |last14=Lerner |first15= Magret |last15=Damaschcke |first16= Mark S. |last16=Bebbington |year=2021 |title= The geological history and hazards of a long-lived stratovolcano, Mt. Taranaki, New Zealand |journal= New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics |volume= 64|issue=2–3|pages=456–478| doi= 10.1080/00288306.2021.1895231 |s2cid=233700970 |doi-access= free |bibcode=2021NZJGG..64..456C }} Present-day seismicity and stress directions in eastern Taranaki are consistent with back-arc extension processes. The Taranaki Volcanic Lineament members as they decrease in age from northwest to southeast are:
- Paritutu, and the Sugar Loaf Islands from 1.75 Ma
- Kaitake from 575 ka
- Pouākai 210–250 ka
- Mount Taranaki <200 ka
= Volcanic activity =
"After the extinction of the Kaitake center, eruptions broke out at Pouākai 6 miles south-east of Kaitake. Activity from this center continued over a long period of ring-plain formation, a period of marine erosion during which volcanic activity decreased, and part way through another period of ring-plain building, before activity broke out from the next center."{{Cite journal |last=Grant-Taylor|first=T. L.|date=21 Dec 2011|title=Volcanic history of Western Taranaki|journal=New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics |volume=7|pages=78–86|doi=10.1080/00288306.1964.10420158|doi-access=free}} It can be postulated that all volcanoes in the Taranaki Volcanic Lineament have had a similar potential for instability and were stratovolcanoes of similar size and shape to the present Mount Taranaki between major collapse events given their debris plains. They may well have had major collapse cycles similar to that presently shown by Mount Taranaki which is a potential maximum size of collapse of {{convert|7.9|km3|abbr=on}} every 30,000 to 35,000 years.