Lake Taupo, in the centre of New Zealand’s North Island, is the caldera of a large rhyolitic volcano called the Taupo Volcano. This huge volcano has produced two of the world’s most violent eruptions in geologically recent times. The Taupo Volcano forms part of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, a region of volcanic activity that extends from Ruapehu in the South, through the Taupo and Rotorua regions, to White Island, in the Bay of Plenty.