Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Frying Pan Lake, New Zealand

By Web Reengineering Team (WRET)
A small lake surrounded by scrubby green vegetation under a partly cloudy sky. The right side of the lake shore includes a tall mass of partly vegetated rock.
Original Thumbnail Medium

Detailed Description

Frying Pan Lake (also called Waimangu Cauldron), in New Zealand, sits within Echo Crater, which formed during the 1886 eruption of Tarawera.  A hydrothermal explosion from the crater in 1917 resulted in the formation of the hot spring "lake" by 1918.  On the night of February 22, 1973, a hydrothermal explosion from the lake shore destroyed a set of silica terraces. USGS Photo by Mike Poland, February 7, 2023.

Sources/Usage

Public Domain.