Kaitake Range

Kaitake Range
Kaitake andesite (red shading) under label "Oakura" on map. The surrounding debris and lahar fields are not shown but extend to the coast. To its south-south-east are the younger andesitic volcanoes being the small cone of Pukeiti, then the Pouakai and Mount Taranaki. Clicking on the map enlarges it, and enables panning and mouseover of volcano name/wikilink and ages before present. Key for the volcanics that are shown with panning is:   basalt (shades of brown/orange),   monogenetic basalts,   undifferentiated basalts of the Tangihua Complex in Northland Allochthon,   arc basalts,   arc ring basalts,   dacite,   andesite (shades of red),   basaltic andesite,   rhyolite, (ignimbrite is lighter shades of violet), and   plutonic. White shading is selected caldera features.
Highest point
Peak	Patuha
Elevation	684 m (2,244 ft)
Coordinates	39°09′41″S 173°57′57″E / 39.16139°S 173.96583°E / -39.16139; 173.96583
Geography
Location	North Island, New Zealand
Geology
Rock age	575 ka[1] Pleistocene
Rock type	Andesite
Volcanic belt	Taranaki Volcanic Lineament
Last eruption	350 ka

The Kaitake Range, like the neighbouring Pouakai Range, is an eroded and heavily vegetated stratovolcano that formed during the Pleistocene epoch in the Taranaki region of New Zealand. Kaitake is the northwesternmost of the stratovolcanoes in the region. It is about 500,000 years old and last erupted around 350,000 years ago. Its final collapse about 250,000 years ago appears to have been potentially associated with a collapse event of the Pouakai volcano.

The region was often reshaped after each cone collapse from Mount Taranaki.^[2] Kaitake and Pouakai continued to be damaged from the erupting Mount Taranaki volcano.^[2] Although Kaitake is largely eroded, the volcanic base of the mountain range is still fairly intact and can be seen as a smooth sloping mountain range from New Plymouth. Kaitake represents some of the oldest inland volcanic activity on the Taranaki peninsula, being younger than only the Sugar Loaf Islands.