A resident has described the frightening moment a mud pool suddenly opened up on her Rotorua property in the middle of the night, shaking the ground and residents awake.

More than 24 hours later mud is still flinging from the bubbling pool and the property is cordoned off.

Resident Susan Gedye had described the moment as feeling like a "big earthquake".

Gedye lives at the Meade St house with her 17-month-old and a 12-year-old. When the shaking went on for more than two minutes she got up to investigate.

"I went to the kitchen and thought something is not right here and saw a big pile of steam ... I panicked."

"There are a few cracks around the place and everything is kind of on a lean," Gedye said.

She said it had been a long night as the ground continued to shake as the mud pool bubbled, a neighbour knocked on the door in the middle of the night to tell them what had happened and the fire brigade turned up at one point.

"I'm just thankful no one was hurt, I'm looking at the positives."

Gedye has gone to stay with family. However she has had to postpone bookings for the beauty business she runs from home.

Staff from the Living Maori Village told the Rotorua Daily Post the mud pool had been flinging mud everywhere on Tuesday but that had settled down.

"I stood up there last night and the ground was shaking," one staff member said.

This morning council staff were at the house which was cordoned off.

GNS volcanologist Brad Scott said there were three possibilities for the mud pool.

It could carry on as it was, it could stop, or it could get worse.

But Scott said he expected it would stop, going on similar instances.

"This is an area where geothermal has been for decades.

"It's traditional behaviour in that area. Every sort of three or four years that bank heats up then kills off vegetation, steam vents form and it quietens down and goes away again," he said.

"It's always stopped in the past."

Scott said this was the most extensive geothermal activity he had seen on the site.

"In terms of Rotorua's geothermal system this is the sort of thing that does happen but this style is less common."

Gedye had lived at the property for two years but had lived there prior to that too.

She said she had witnessed geothermal activity on the bank where the mud pool opened up before.

In 2017 steam flowed out of the bank for about two weeks before stopping.

"I didn't think this was going to happen again."

Rotorua Lakes Council geothermal inspector Peter Brownbridge said the council was told about the mud hole early on Tuesday morning.

"We got a call from the resident saying that she had vibrations and loud noises ... When we came to the property we saw steam venting under pressure from the lip of the bank and mud being ejected from the site."

Brownbridge said a fault line ran along the bank and every now and then a flow of heat would cause geothermal activity along it.

He said previously it took about 10 weeks from start to finish for the geothermal activity to die down.

"These events they happen very quickly and just as quickly they die away."

Brownbridge said the immediate danger in the area was of ground collapse and mud flowing and there was some concern a shed on the property was at risk.

"There does appear to be a bit of movement in the foundation."

He described the mud pool as a "violent mud hole" but said there would be no reason for the residents not to move back in if it didn't get any worse.

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick asked the public to respect the cordons in place and not try get a closer look at the mud pool.

"At the moment we need this high level precautionary approach to public safety.

"Those of us who live here know how to live with mother nature."

Chadwick said the mud pool was a reminder of the "complex, dynamic aspects" of living in Rotorua.

"This is why visitors have been coming to this part of New Zealand for over 170 years."