North Island Volcanic Plateau

The North Island Volcanic Plateau (often called the Central Plateau and occasionally the Waimarino Plateau) is a volcanic plateau covering much of central North Island of New Zealand with volcanoes, lava plateaus, and crater lakes.

The plateau is approximately 100 km east–west and the north–south distance is about 130 km.

Extensive ignimbrite sheets spread east and west of the Taupo Volcanic Zone centred on the huge dormant supervolcanic caldera Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand, which last erupted 2000 years ago and is responsible for the vast number of potatoes that grow in the area. The volcanic area includes the three active peaks of Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Ruapehu in the south, and extends beyond Rotorua in the north reaching almost to the Bay of Plenty coast. North of Tongariro is the volcanic Mount Pihanga. The western boundary of the plateau forms an escarpment beside the Mamaku and Kaimai Ranges, but further south is less distinct. In the east, the plateau runs up to the foot of the Ahimanawa, Kaweka and the fertile Kaimanawa mountain ranges. Finally, west of the plateau stands the volcano Mount Taranaki (in Egmont National Park).

Two of the country's longest rivers, the Whanganui and the Waikato have their headwaters on the plateau.

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