The present young, modern Taupō Rift is defined by events between 25,000 and 350,000 years[4] and the old Taupō Rift system, which can be defined by a gravity anomaly, is now located more to the north being created between 350,000 and 2 million years and is about 70 kilometres (43 mi) wide.

[3][7] To the north east it is related tectonically to the Havre Trough off the continental shelf which is also an active rift structure.

Between 2016 and 2020 there was low volcanic activity in the rift except at Whakaari / White Island, and the areas of maximal satellite measured subsidence were confined to a small areas of about 30 mm (1.2 in)/year near the 2012 Te Māri eruptions site, or the rift geothermal power stations, while from Lake Taupō to the coast subsidence more usually peaked at about 15 mm (0.59 in)/year.

[10] The parallel Tauranga Fault Zone to the north represents a now mainly inactive old Taupō Rift margin.

[2] There is good evidence that the orientation of intra-arc strike and extension processes has been maintained for 4 million years in this region of New Zealand.

In the later case, the strike of the basaltic dyke of the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera follows that of faults to the south and north, confirming other hints that orientation of volcanism is preserved.

In the time since Māori settlement these larger earthquakes can be speculated to have resulted in more indirect loss of life than volcanic activity, although as this is driven by oral tradition reports of hundreds dying in a relatively recent landslip on the Waihi Fault Zone south of Lake Taupō it may not be true.