[7] The massive Whakamaru ignimbrite eruption of 349,000 years ago,[7] for example has deposits up to 50m thick typically at least 650 m (2,130 ft) below the present ground level.

At its northern end in the Taupō-Reporoa Basin the eruptions that had formed the rhyolitic Reporoa Caldera some 280,000 years ago,[8] were to define the lakes boundaries throughout its existence.

Volcanic deposits washed down from the Tongariro River drainage were to silt up its southern end as is the case with Lake Taupō today.

[10][a] In the center and to the west the rhyolitic volcanic deposits associated with the Whakamaru caldera complex and the Taupō Volcano by 222,000 years ago defined the western shore.

It is found between 400–100 m (1,310–330 ft) above present mean sea level in this middle portion of the Taupō Volcanic Zone,[11] and was only accurately dated recently.

[19][5][d] The formation is most well characterised in its middle section due to well drilling for geothermal development and here there are three distinct units: During the lake's existence its size, while never small, varied.

The Oruanui eruption occurred in a ten-stage process with the main vents located under the southern Lake Huka system.

It is unknown if the evidence for some historic drainage well before the Oruanui eruption, into the Hamilton Basin by the Waikato River relates to a period when Lake Huka existed.

[35] Further as Cyclostephanos novaezeelandiae, is endemic to New Zealand's North Island it would serve if identified in tephra to confirm the eruptive source region.