Lake Christabel – Out There Learning

Nature’s Earthquake Recorders

Leave a Comment / Earth Science, Julian's Blog / Julian Thomson / Alpine Fault, Dating, Earthquake, GeoPhysics, Lake Christabel, Sedimentary

In order to make sense of the sediment cores that can be retrieved from lakes near to the Alpine Fault such as Lake Christabel, it is worth having a think about what happens to the environment when the fault ruptures in a large earthquake. Under normal conditions, alpine lakes fill up very slowly with sediment […]

Nature’s Earthquake Recorders Read More »

Lake Christabel

Lake Christabel J.Thomson@GNS Science This is Lake Christabel in New Zealand’s South Island. It is one of the many beautiful alpine lakes to be found close to the Alpine Fault. Lake Christabel was formed when a huge landslide blocked the valley, thus damming the river that then backed up to form the lake.The present day

Welcome to my site

Hi I’m Julian Thomson and I am involved in science communication and education in ways that link geoscientists with teachers and students, mostly in New Zealand, but also in Asia. This includes consultancy with school faculties and individual teachers around their earth science, ecology or outdoor programmes, running geoscience workshops and field trips, creating school learning resources, making educational videos and authoring web pages.

In my work I love to highlight the wonders of the natural world and ways that we can explore, become fascinated and never lose the sense of awe. I am also very interested in ways we can best safeguard ourselves from Natural Hazards which are a continual issue in New Zealand, sitting across a collision plate boundary as we do.