Skip to main content

Days 13 and 14: Trip to Whakapapa and up Ruapehu

Hello readers! Welcome to our blog today! Very excited to talk to you on this great day. Not five minutes ago (what feels like at least!) we embarked on our journey, one we would never forget. After arriving in the North Island and spending a free day in Wellington we were impatient to see what the geology of this landmass could hold. And boy were we not disappointed.


Our first destination: Whakapapa! Home of the southern edge of the North Island's Taupo Volcanic Zone (specifically Ruapehu volcano and the Tongariro volcanic complex) and a great ski resort, we happily rested our tired little heads for a night at The Skotel. After a good sleep, we began our quest...volcanoes. 

We started our day in Happy Valley on the slopes of Ruapehu, a "huge ass" volcano. We studied some puzzling cliffs and made some estimates on the number of units present before focusing on a unique cliff face. After analyzing the different types of rock and orientations present, we concluded that this outcrop is a textbook example of an effusive (oozing) lava flow that had been inflated by an obstacle in the topography, likely a hill. We identified the three main components of the flow, a bottom level matrix supported volcanic breccia, a massive columnar jointed middle cliff section, and a clast supported volcanic breccia on the top level. 

With this in mind, we were able to identify the previous wall we had studied as the result of several (7-8) individual lava flows. Our hearts in the sky, we moved our bodies closer too as we hiked up the slopes of Ruapehu, stoping for lunch on a thin, spiky ridge. We enjoyed our cold cuts and snackies before continuing our geological journey. Our next point of interest: the wall next to which we’d eaten. We studied the wall, which interestingly was a feature in the cult classic: Lord of the Rings. Also cool was that we could see Mount Doom, from the same film series, as the backdrop of our investigations. 


So, the wall. After analyzing the strangely prominent feature, jutting upward in a tabular manner from the surrounding topography, we determined that it was our old friend, the dike, back for another round of punishing analysis. We were tipped off to this features nature by the horizontal columnar jointing, indicating cooling in a horizontal (as opposed to vertical) direction as well as the chilled margins (cooled zone) on the outer edges of the structure. 

We journeyed further up towards the crater and encountered some lava flows that were just wild. Their wildness stemmed from the fact that they were inclined, not horizontally layered, and demonstrated opposite inclined at different lateral positions. We concluded that this was due to lava rushing down a valley created on one side by the aforementioned dike. Due to unfortunate construction and the rising clouds, our wondrous day was cut short, to our extreme sadness. We paused at the top of our climb to point out some more effusive lava features and learn about their geometry and chemistry. 


We also got a rare treat, an orangish intrusive dome feature (notably different from the afore-aforementioned intrusive dike) protruding from the rocks above. As the sun went down, so to did we descend from the clouds, scrambling our way back to Dave, our trusty van and loving companion. Our aching souls longed for a good meal and a warm bed, which The Skotel was so happy to provide. We felt like lords of the rocks (haha lol) after our big day and were exploding with excitement to explore more about the volcanic landscape surrounding us.

John & Conrad

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 15: A Slippery Slope

After exploring the realm of effusive volcanoes at Ruapehu, we ventured out into the unknown world of explosive volcanism. We started our day with a hot mystery to solve: fall or flow? We were taken to 2 outcrops that were textbook perfect examples of each volcanic feature and set upon characterizing them. Two very different pyroclastic depositions were evident--one with big white pumicey clasts with no beds and one tall hill with clear layering and varied grain size-- but there was a steamy debate as to which was flow and which was fall. Left without the guidance of Guil, Lydia, and Brad, the gang was left to our own devices to figure out which was which.  Leaving our mystery up in the air, we headed to our third stop - a hill. Bushwhacking our way up through towering grasses, we traversed our way to a place that looked suspiciously like the second outcrop. After another heated debate amongst the students, we eventually learned that this was, in fact, a combo of pr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Days 20 and 21: Conrad's Birthdays

May 28th— the long awaited day—the big day—the only day—Conrad’s 19th birthday. Unfortunately for him, the weather was rainy and chilly and mushy on his day; but fortunately for him, he was one year older and could finally kick it with the rest of the big kids. After wishing our first of many happy birthdays to C-rad, we GABEd it up for a day at Wai-o-tapu.  “Wai-o-tapWHO?” I hear you scream. Dear readers I’m so glad you asked. A bubbly geothermal wonderland, Wai-o-tapu was the perfect example of New Zealand’s incredibly efficient magma sourced geothermal system that produces 1200 megawatts of power. For scale, just one megawatt powers 1,000 homes.  If that doesn’t make you say, “wowie!” I don’t know what will. After learning from our resident experts about the thermodynamics behind the system, we had time to romp around the park and watch the mud bubbles rise and pop and boil, resisting the urge to jump into the steamy mess.  We did, however, get to s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 7: Wow in Westport

Wow. What a day. Today started for me with a healthy breakfast of rice krispers and toast with peanut butter and honey. But not just normal honey, really good honey. I brushed my teeth after the meal and was then ready for an exciting day in the field! Our first stop was back at the beautiful Cape Foulwind, where we trekked to a lighthouse that overlooked the beach where we’d spent the previous day. After learning that this was, in fact, not supposed to be our first stop we walked back to the van and to another point along the coast. This was also not the area we were looking for, but luckily the rocks proved satisfactory for our purposes. Our subject was a massive massive grey outcrop, and our object was to find out just what this big boy was made of. After a quick seminar in mineral properties based on light, mechanics, and shape we were able to determine that the outcrop was of igneous origin based on the interlocking nature of its grains and that it was composed of feldspar megac...
Post a Comment
Read more