Scientists monitoring a supervolcano responsible for the biggest eruption on the planet in 5,000 years have raised an alert. A shift in the activity of Taupō, in New Zealand, has been detected recently, with hundreds of small quakes hitting the area, reports the Star.
So for the first time since a measuring system was introduced in 1994, the alert level for the formidable supervolcano has been raised from 0 to 1 out of six. The last time Taupō, at the centre of the country's north island, exploded was 1,800 years ago - the most violent eruption seen in the last 5,000 years.
Another - much larger - eruption occurred about 26,000 years ago that created an ash cloud that covered the Southern Hemisphere. Major erruptions are estimated to take place every thousand years.
