[link to www.wired.com]
Past Volcanic Eruptions in the Auckland Field More Common
BY ERIK KLEMETTI04.11.1310:26 AM
...A new study in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research

[link to www.sciencedirect.com]
("Longevity of a small shield volcano revealed by crypto-tephra studies (Rangitoto volcano, New Zealand): Change in eruptive behavior of a basaltic field")

seems to suggest that the Auckland Field and Rangitoto have been more active during the last few thousand years that previously appreciated...
What does this mean for Auckland? Well, the previous interpretation of Rangitoto was that it was a monogenetic shield volcano, like Mauna Ulu on Kilauea. This means that after an eruption begins from a specific vent, it might erupt from months to a few years, but then go quiet. The next eruption would likely not be sourced from the same vent as before, but possibly somewhere else within the Auckland Field. Shane and others finding instead suggest that Rangitoto puffed away for a thousand years before the final voluminous eruption that formed much of the island on which it sits. For Auckland, this is relatively bad news as the volcanic risk models for the area has been focussed on short eruptions (weeks to years), but if the tephra analysis from Lake Pupuke is correct, then an eruptive center in the Auckland Field could be active for hundreds if not a thousand years (intermittently, of course). Those of you who think a lot of volcanic mitigation know that this changes the game for the city of Auckland, because if a new eruption could produce small explosive eruptions and lava flows for hundreds of years, how the city copes with such activity is very different than an eruption that only lasts a few months. That being said, this news is not catastrophic for Auckland, either. Think about all the people living around Etna on Sicily, a place that has survived through persistent volcanic activity like we might expect from the Auckland Field for thousands of years. A hypothetical 500 year eruption sequence in the Auckland Field would clearly have a dramatic effect on the city, but depending on the location of the vent, it is by no means a death sentence for the city.

NZ Volcanologist BarbB • 2 hours ago −
Barb, re: Auckland earthquakes, those were unrelated to any volcanic activity & along a semi-known fault line in Auckland. Happens to be next to a volcano (though the fault could be why the volcano is there!), but these EQs were tectonic in origin and way too shallow to be signs of initial magma intrusion (we hope!) at 5-6 km. We get the odd (small) shake here and there in Auckland as a matter of course--we are the Shaky Isles, after all!