New Zealand has thousands of active faults each of which will produce an earthquake of some magnitude when it ruptures. However the two giants are the Alpine Fault and the Hikurangi Subduction Fault. They each form a segment of the plate boundary – the Alpine Fault can be traced across land, the length of the South […]
What’s on our Plates? Read More »
Bitou – this small fishing village is about 70km north of Yilan City. Right next to it is the Bitou Geopark. Here you can take a clifftop walk above steep sandstone cliffs, or descend to the shore platform to see some strange mushroom like features at close quarters Here the shore platform is festooned with
Geology of Bitou, Lailai and Beiguan, Taiwan Read More »
To find worthwhile locations that offer great learning opportunities in geology, you have to spend time exploring outcrops, trying to make sense of the geological features that are exposed and then think of ways that students can explore and make sense of them out of their own activity. This inquiry learning process can work well
Geology on the Yilan Coast, Taiwan Read More »
During my stay in Taiwan I have been invited by the teachers to visit several areas that they consider to have educational potential for school camps. Iron and Copper minerals have stained the famous “Golden Waterfall” The first area was on the NE coast around Keelung Mountain which is an old dacite volcano. This area
Jinguashi – Gold and Copper mining in Taiwan Read More »
Natural Hazards Activities for Schools This article is about a science education project that I was involved in that was supported by MBIE’s Unlocking Curious Minds fund in 2018. It involved four three-day natural hazards science camps for intermediate level students in New Zealand’s rural Tairawhiti (Gisborne – East Cape) region. A total of 109
Natural Hazards Science for East Coast Schools Read More »
Mangere Mountain, L. Homer / GNS Science Volcanic cones, explosion craters and lava flows form much of Auckland’s natural topography. All of these, apart from one (Rangitoto Island) are from vents that erupted once only (monogenetic), with eruptions lasting a few weeks or months and then ceasing completely. There are many accessible and beautiful locations
Tasman Glacier Lake, J.Thomson / GNS Science New Zealand is an isolated country with a very active plate boundary running right through it. For a relatively small landmass it has an astonishing variety of landscapes and is being continuously subject to dramatic physical occurrences that include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides, rapid erosion and sedimentation.
GeoTrips – visiting New Zealand’s geology and landforms Read More »
A blog post by Tanja Petersen and Neville Palmer from their recent GNS Science trip to Antarctica to measure the Earth’s Magnetic Field. It took 8 hours for the Hercules aircraft to fly from Christchurch to Williams airfield, a runway on the Ross ice shelf close to Scott Base. Both of us had never been
Earth’s Magnetism in Antarctica Read More »
Greg Browne. Image Julian Thomson @ GNS Science In New Zealand there is only one area (with six individual locations not far from each other) in which dinosaur footprints have been identified. This is in NW Nelson in the South Island. They were discovered and researched by Greg Browne, a sedimentologist at GNS Science who
Tracking Dinosaurs in NW Nelson Read More »
The Alpine Fault has been the focus of a lot of research over recent years, including the Deep Fault Drilling Project, Alpine Lake Sediment Research and the Earthquake Records at Hokuri Creek amongst them. These are building a much clearer picture of the history of previous fault ruptures, and allowing better estimates of the size
Digging into the Alpine Fault Read More »