By Alison Ballance
Macauley Island (left) showing a lava flow surrounded by thick ash layers, and Cheeseman Island (right) (photos: A. Ballance)
If there is one thing that most people know about the Kermadec Islands, and Raoul Island in particular, is that they have a habit of erupting. To find out more about the very active Kermadec Volcanic Arc (as there were no volcanologists along on the Kermadecs Biodiscovery Expedition), Alison Ballance heads to GNS Science in Lower Hutt to talk with geologist Cornel de Ronde, who has been involved in a number of oceanographic research voyages surveying the little-known submarine volcanoes along the Arc. Cornel de Ronde was the winner of the 2010 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science Communication, and earlier this year led the expedition which rediscovered the Pink and White Terraces near Rotorua.
