Lake Rotomahana

Lake Rotomahana is an 800-hectare lake in northern New Zealand, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Rotorua. It is immediately south-west of the dormant volcano Mount Tarawera, and its geography was substantially altered by a major 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera. Along with the mountain, it lies within the Okataina caldera.

The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "warm lake" for Rotomahana, following Hochstetter.Before the 1886 eruption, only two small lakes were present in the current lake's basin. High quality pictures of the then Lake Rotomahana and associated tourist attractions were widely available in Europe by 1875. Following the eruption, a number of craters filled over the course of 15 years to form today's Lake Rotomahana.