Investigating the Magma Reservoir of Taupō Volcano Using Receiver Functions

The Taupō Volcanic Zone (TVZ), one of the most active volcanic systems globally, poses significant hazards. To improve our understanding of crustal structure and implications for hazards, we apply P‐to‐S receiver function analysis, supplemented by S‐to‐P for validation, to temporary seismic network data surrounding Taupō volcano. This provides better structural detail beneath Taupō than previous studies, allowing finer constraints on geometry, crustal structure, and magmatic zones. We image a positive discontinuity at 2–6 ± 1 km depth likely related to the base of a volcanoclastic layer. Beneath the collapse caldera, the phase is broader and deeper (10–16 ± 1 km depth), interpreted as the lower boundary of an upper‐crustal silicic mush zone. A negative discontinuity is widespread between 13 ± 2 km and 24 ± 3 km depth, likely at the top of a lower‐crustal magmatic zone. Southeast of Taupō we image an additional negative discontinuity (30 ± 3 km depth), suggesting complex layering. We image a positive discontinuity at 28–33 ± 3 km depth beneath Lake Taupō and northwest, deepening to 33 ± 3–39 ± 4 km depth southeast of the caldera, interpreted as the Moho. These findings provide crucial constraints on the size, depth, and structure of the magma reservoir and crust beneath Taupō, suggesting an approximate maximum magma mush volume of ∼800 km 3 . Imaging supports a volcanically thickened crust beneath Taupō, and in the south and southeast, and/or extensional rifting processes thinning the crust to the northwest, potentially explained by decreasing extension rates southwards.