The effects of rainfall upon geothermal springs, Rotorua, New Zealand

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Abstract
A previous empirical analysis of rainfall to January 1983 at Rotorua led to a deduction that periods of low rainfall preceded temporary cessations of geothermal springs in 1924 and 1943 by about 8 years. That analysis is shown here to approximate flow from a spring fed by a leaky reservoir. Upon adding recent rainfall an additional minimum of pressure in such a reservoir is seen to have occurred in 1983‐85. With the deduced 8‐year response, a natural decline in the spring flow would thus be expected in 1991‐93. Using this spring‐reservoir model, minima of flow are indeed apparent in 1924 and 1943, and there is a downward trend to the present.

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