Last week I was involved in a NASA Spaceward Bound meeting in Te Takinga Marae in Rotorua. The purpose of the meeting was to promote interest in Planetary Geology and Astrobiology, and it was attended by about 50 scientists, educators, undergraduates and school students from New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Romania, the UK and Kazakhstan. […]
NASA comes to Rotorua Read More »
GNS Science and Waikato University are investigating one thousand of the geothermal hot springs in New Zealand’s North Island. The goal of this ambitious 1000 Springs Research Project is to understand and compare the microbiology of these springs along with their physical and chemical make-up. That adds up to a lot of sampling trips, processing
1000 Geothermal Springs Read More »
This week I have been with Cornel de Ronde and a group of ocean floor researchers applying more of their methods to expand the large amount of research of Lake Rotomahana done over recent years. This is the lake that used to be decorated by the famous Pink and White Terraces. It was excavated by
The Hot Bed of Rotomahana Read More »
Following last weeks’ multibeam sonar survey, the bed of Lake Rotomahana has now been mapped to a resolution of half a metre, bringing to light a mass of detail hitherto unknown to scientists. The first photo shows last year’s map which was made with the assistance of WHOI (Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institution). The resolution of
Rotomahana’s lake floor prompts many questions Read More »
By the end of this week, scientists hope to have a clearer picture of how the famous Pink and White Terraces look. Listen to the National Radio interview: (3′37″) Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3 | Embed New Zealand Herald article on the project here
Scientists hope for picture of Pink and White Terraces soon Read More »
Along with biological specimens, the sled brings a lot of rock off the sea floor. Christian Timm sorts through all the samples, cuts some of them up with a rock saw, and packs and labels them to be studied in detail back at GNS Science. The different minerals present in the samples will be analysed
Hydrothermal activity in undersea volcanoes is largely the result of sea water descending into the crust, being heated up and then chemically breaking down the surrounding rocks as it rises back up to the sea bed. These mineral rich fluids then re-enter the water column either diffusely over a wide area, or out of one