Late this morning and then again after lunch the residents of the Taupo area (including the GeoNet team at Wairakei) were shaken by two earthquake sequences. The first came from the west, then the later one from the north-east. Both appear as main shock and after shock sequences, not part of a swarm.

This morning’s main earthquake was a M3.5 at 8 km depth. It was located about 10 km north-west of Taupo, or 5 km north of Kinloch. More than a dozen aftershocks followed, but only three are large enough for us to locate. There are several major faults in that area. These earthquakes are likely to be generated from those faults.

The slightly larger earthquake after lunch was a M3.8, also at 8 km depth. It was located about 10 km north-east of Taupo, near Lake Rotokawa. Again, we have recorded many small aftershocks and six are locatable. Earthquake activity is very common about the Rotokawa Geothermal Field. We have located over 70 earthquakes there in the last year.