Earlier this week I was up in Taranaki, exploring the geology of the area with two GNS Science researchers Kyle Bland and Richard Levy. One of the sites we visited was Airedale Reef, a short walk east along the coast from the mouth of the Waitara River. There are spectacular remnants of an ancient forest […]
Earlier this week I decided to spend the night camping up on the North Crater of Tongariro. This is the large flat crater that is off to the north and west of the main track of the Tongariro Crossing. For access information have a look at the GeoTrip page here: www.geotrips.org.nz/trip.html?id=279Here is a view across
Tongariro North Crater Read More »
GNS Science recently produced a new “Photographic Guide to Fossils of New Zealand”. It is a small, pocket sized booklet, packed with photos and information about many of our characteristic fossils. It also contains a very readable introduction to New Zealand geology, the fossilisation process and the geological history of New Zealand. You can find
Fossil Favourites from GNS Scientists Read More »
Last weekend I returned to our fossil whale locality in Palliser Bay with John Simes, the paleontology collections manager at GNS Science. This is where I had found three large jaw bone fragments of a fossil baleen whale last November. We decided to have a good look through some of the loose debris in the
Fossil Whale Hunting Read More »
Titahi Bay is a great place to visit if you are interested to see some of the geology near Wellington. There are a number of very interesting features to look at and explore. The first thing to check out is the coastal landforms caused by a combination of the atmosphere and the sea, as well
Titahi Bay Geology Read More »
If you had to work out the daily quantities of different gases coming out of a volcano and spreading across the sky in a huge, mostly invisible plume, where would you begin? This video gives a brief introduction to how New Zealand’s GeoNet scientists go about it: The information is combined with other evidence such
Volcano Gas Flights Video Read More »
My next experience of a GeoNet gas monitoring flight was over Tongariro and Ruapehu. This time Karen Britten and I were joined by Fiona Atkinson (left in photo) who is part of the GeoNet volcano monitoring team. As we approached the volcanoes from over Lake Taupo, the small gas plume from Te Maari was visible.
Flight over Tongariro and Ruapehu Read More »
Yesterday I joined Karen Britten on a GeoNet gas monitoring flight over White Island. This was to check the flux of volcanic gas emissions following an ash eruption a few days ago.Check this GeoTrip page if you are interested to visit White Island / Whakaari yourself: www.geotrips.org.nz/trip.html?id=541 ) The plane is modified to allow the
White Island Gas Flight Read More »
On my way back to civilisation from Tama Lakes, I decided to take a detour to visit Saddle Cone, ( GeoTrip page here: www.geotrips.org.nz/trip.html?id=53 ) a small isolated crater on the northern slopes of Ruapehu. You can see the tilted rim of the cone in the centre of the photo: The second image is looking
Climbing Ngauruhoe from the South is well off the tourist route, and involves scrambling up unstable blocks of lava for about 700 vertical metres up the face of the cone. I chose to go up more or less up the centre of the view you can see here, and it took me about an hour
Ngauruhoe’s Far Side Read More »