Rescue workers have found 30 or more people unconscious and believed to be dead near the peak of an erupting volcano in central Japan.

Many of Auckland's volcanic cones, including those at the Domain and Mt Smart, have gained official Maori names under a Treaty of Waitangi settlement.

Incredible footage of a volcanic eruption shown sending a powerful shockwave rippling through the clouds above it has been captured by a holidaymaker.

Cruise around or fly over the volcano at any time and white plumes of steam and gas sit like a cloud above, spurting from its craters, hissing vents, steaming fumaroles and boiling mud pools.

A volcano erupted yesterday in eastern Papua New Guinea, spewing rocks and ash into the air and forcing the evacuation of local communities, seismologists and reports said.

A spate of small earthquakes around White Island today is not unusual and is nothing to worry about, seismologist John Ristau says.

A NZ couple who swam for their lives when the Indonesian ferry they were on sank say their experience should serve as a warning to other travellers.

Land slips on Maungawhau/Mt Eden have prompted a call for the Government to help ratepayers with urgent restoration work on Auckland's volcanic cones.

Two Kiwi tourists who braved 11 hours clinging to their capsized ferry in Indonesia swam in searing heat and swift seas for up to eight more hours.

Some of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the last 2,000 years have left their indelible mark deep within the pristine ice sheet of the Antarctic, a study has found.

Darwin remains cut off from all air services and flights from Australia to Bali are being affected as three separate ash plumes billow from an Indonesian volcano.

A vast ash cloud spewing from an Indonesian volcano has already shut Darwin Airport and is spreading south towards Alice Springs, an expert says.

With over 10 volcanic craters and cones, Mangere is packed with adventures, writes Diana Clement.

We've picked five volcanoes from the more than 50 in the Auckland Volcanic Field.

A look into how some of New Zealand's biggest volcanoes erupted hundreds of years ago could help predict lava flows for future eruptions.

The impact of volcanic eruptions on global warming could provide a new explanation for the so-called “pause” used by sceptics to deny climate change, scientists say.

Rangitoto's explosive history - and what it means for risk to Auckland in the future - will become clearer following a study drilling up to 150m into the island's surface.

2014 is less than a fortnight old and we've already been given two reasons to gnaw our fingernails over the future of civilisation as we know it, writes Paul Thomas.

The risk of a supervolcano eruption powerful enough to wipe out civilisation as we know it is far greater than previously thought, a study has found.

Experts say new findings don't necessarily increase the 'Yellowstone hazard' – despite claims it could be due a catastrophic eruption.

Powerful bursts of hot ash and gravel erupted from a rumbling volcano in western Indonesia early Monday (local time), sending panicked villagers streaming down the sides of the mountain.

A volcanic eruption has raised an island in the seas to the far south of Tokyo, the Japanese coast guard and earthquake experts said.

Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, has erupted again, lighting up the sky over much of eastern Sicily and shooting up a towering column of ash.

Mt Sinabung in north Sumatra has been spewing ash and lava 4km into the sky this week, forcing up to 4,300 people to evacuate.

White Island has remained quiet overnight following yesterday's eruption, GeoNet says, but the activity could be part of a bigger sequence.