Do New Zealand’s active faults and volcanoes talk to each other? Insights from 25 years of trenching ancient faults.
Join Dr Pilar Villamor for the 2026 Hochstetter Lecture.
TUE 21 APR, 6PM
TE MATA TAIRONGO AUDITORIUM LEVEL 2
PAY WHAT YOU CAN
This year’s Hochstetter Lecture will review 25 years of trenching active faults in volcanic environments and how a scientist's perspective on tectonics close to volcanoes changed through that time. Follow this perspective shift from the simple utilisation of volcanic stratigraphy as timelines for paleo-earthquake history to a realisation that volcanic and tectonic processes are so intimately connected that one cannot be understood without the other.
Dr Pilar Villamor will show paleoseismic evidence based on criteria that she developed to distinguish types of earthquakes–eruption associations. Paleoseismic data, combined with geomorphology, borehole data, and geophysics, revealed strong temporal links between fault ruptures and volcanic eruptions. She will also draw on worldwide historic examples and stress modelling to infer possible crustal processes that can explain these time associations.
Collectively, these studies improve our understanding of how volcanic eruptions and unrest are linked to active faults and earthquakes in the Taupō Volcanic Zone.
About Dr Pilar Villamor
Dr Pilar Villamor is an internationally respected earthquake geologist and principal scientist whose research on active faults and volcano–tectonic interactions in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her recent work shows that the recurrence of fault ruptures in the Taupō Volcanic Zone can be strongly modulated by volcanic activity. This has had a transformative impact for on our understanding of natural hazards.
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