Qualla: Craters of the Moon https://qualla.com/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:28 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/c/j/h/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Craters of the Moon https://qualla.com/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site Craters of the Moon: Introduction https://qualla.com/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0 nl. The craters are not ancient. That is the first surprise at Karapiti, the Māori name for this 36-hectare field of heated ground just north of Taupō. While the geothermal energy beneath it has simmered for millennia, the craters themselves - the barren, brilliantly coloured pits that give the site its English name - are a relatively recent phenomenon, created not by volcanic eruption alone but by the interaction of deep heat with human engineering. When the nearby Wairakei geothermal power station began drawing energy from the underground reservoir in the 1950s, it shifted the pressure balance. The land responded by blowing holes in itself.

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/c/j/h/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site-wp/rcjh-craters-of-the-moon-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Craters of the Moon: The Safety Valve of the North Island https://qualla.com/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site/ Photo credit Joerg Mueller, CC BY 2.5. Long before the craters appeared, the Karapiti Blowhole announced this ground's restless nature. When Austrian geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter passed through in 1859, he recorded a colossal column of steam visible from 20 kilometres away, rising from a fumarole so powerful th...

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Image: Joerg Mueller | CC BY 2.5

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/c/j/h/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site-wp/rcjh-craters-of-the-moon-the-safety-valve-of-the-north-island.mp3 0:06 2 full Craters of the Moon: When the Balance Shifted https://qualla.com/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site/ Photo credit Pseudopanax at en.wikipedia, Public domain. The Wairakei geothermal power station, commissioned in 1958, was a pioneering achievement - one of the world's first large-scale geothermal power plants. But extracting energy from a pressurised underground system has consequences. As the power station drew fluid from the geother...

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Image: Pseudopanax at en.wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/c/j/h/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site-wp/rcjh-craters-of-the-moon-when-the-balance-shifted.mp3 0:06 3 full Craters of the Moon: A Landscape That Refuses to Hold Still https://qualla.com/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. Walking the main circuit at Craters of the Moon takes about 45 minutes, but the landscape you walk through will not be the same one the next visitor sees. Steam vents shift, collapse, and reform. The single active mud pool bubbles with grey clay as hydrogen sulphide gas reacts wi...

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/c/j/h/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site-wp/rcjh-craters-of-the-moon-a-landscape-that-refuses-to-hold-still.mp3 0:06 4 full Craters of the Moon: Where the Earth Smells of Sulphur https://qualla.com/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site/ Photo credit Avenue, CC BY-SA 3.0. The site sits within the Wairakei geothermal field, the largest in New Zealand at roughly 25 square kilometres, itself part of the Taupō Volcanic Zone. Crown Land administered by the Department of Conservation, it has been tended since 1991 by the volunteer-run Craters of the Moo...

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Image: Avenue | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/c/j/h/craters-of-the-moon-geothermal-site-wp/rcjh-craters-of-the-moon-where-the-earth-smells-of-sulphur.mp3 0:06 5 full