White Terraces Research Articles

The Eighth Wonder of the World in New Zealand: Seismic studies confirm the new Hochstetter paradigm

<p>The most famous tourist attractions in the southern hemisphere, in the nineteenth century were the Pink and White Terraces—New Zealand’s lost Eighth Wonder of the World. They were assumed lost in an1886 eruption. The unpublished 2018 data from passive seismic stations across the Lake Rotomahana overflow in the Taupō Volcanic Zone are examined for evidence of acoustic interfaces that may be traced to Te Tarata, the White Terraces, the stations were coincidentally placed over the reported course of the Kaiwaka Channel buried in the 1886 Tarawera eruption. There was no seismic evidence of the Channel at the reported altitude under either the Smith-Keam or Hochstetter paradigms. This absence is strong empirical negative evidence that the Kaiwaka Channel did not flow beneath today’s Lake Rotomahana overflow, as has been assumed since 1886 under the Smith-Keam paradigm. Unlike the seismic and GPR Black Terrace Crater and Te Tuhi’s Stream (aka Black Terrace Stream) bed evidence obtained by the same 2018 survey—there is no evidence of a pre-1886 eruption paleochannel beneath today’s overflow saddle at the lake and at the Kaiwaka altitude under the 1886 Smith-Keam paradigm or the contemporary Hochstetter paradigm, the latter based upon Hochstetter’s unique terrestrial survey of the Rotomahana Basin. The study reports strong empirical evidence contradicting the assumed Kaiwaka location and with it, the assumed locations of old Lake Rotomahana and the Pink and White Terraces. The Smith-Keam paradigm is thereby confounded. The seismic data provide concomitant empirical evidence for the Rotomahana altimetry and topography reported by Bunn and Nolden, who locate the Kaiwaka Channel 440 m west of the seismic stations. The Pink and White Terraces can no longer be assumed destroyed. They may yet be explored and recovered.</p>

Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s November 1860 Folio of New Zealand survey data and the location of the Pink and White Terraces

This research utilises Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s unpublished November 1860 Folio of survey data from the first major terrestrial topographical and geological survey in New Zealand. The Folio data enable reconstruction of the survey across the North Island to Lake Rotomahana, with unique bearings to the lost Pink and White Terraces. Prepared for cartographic production in Gotha, Germany, the Folio features marginalia by cartographer August Petermann and Arnim Welcker. It validates Hochstetter’s 1859 field diaries and Rotomahana Basin topography navigating to the Terraces. The Folio survey coordinates indicate the Pink and White Terrace springs lie buried beneath the shores of Lake Rotomahana. The Folio locations are consistent with earlier survey Diary iterations. They triangulate with the Basin topography and align with Mātauranga Māori. Complementary with recently published research, the Folio data provides historical primary source evidence for the search for the lost Terraces at Lake Rotomahana.

Resolving the 1886 White Terraces riddle in the Taupō Volcanic Zone

Among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only the Great Pyramid of Giza survives. Yet there is another, older than the seven, that was found and then lost again in the 19th century and once more located by the research herein: the White Terraces, named Te Tarata by indigenous peoples, of the Taupō Volcanic Zone in New Zealand. The greatest geoscience and tourist attractions in the southern hemisphere were the siliceous Pink and White Terraces. European, American, and British tourists bypassed the calcareous terraces at Saturnia, Yellowstone, and Pamukkale for the long sea voyage down to New Zealand. The 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption buried the siliceous terraces, decimating their indigenous owners and their tourism. An eruption crater lake now occupies much of the Rotomahana Basin in the Taupō Volcanic Zone, leading to assumptions that the Terraces were lost. However, no evidence was produced. The indigenous Māori owners did not believe they were lost. Controversy ensued. The resolution of this controversy is of economic and cultural importance as well as scientific interest. In 2011, a joint New Zealand-American project claimed to have found the Pink and White Terraces underwater in crater lake but produced no sinter samples. Recently, their claims were refuted. In Europe, terrestrial survey documents were unearthed, including compass bearings to the terraces by the German geologist Ferdinand Hochstetter. His survey records were digitally repatriated, and the reconstruction of his 1859 survey showed that the terrace springs lay outside the eruption crater. This renewed research in the Rotomahana Basin which has resolved the controversy. By studying topography and with the aid of Māori navigation knowledge, the geographic coordinates of the White Terraces have been triangulated and lie on land, on the shoreline outside the 1886 crater. Surprisingly, this evidence demonstrates that the White Terraces could have been located after the 1886 eruption by observation of the Rotomahana Basin with mapping available since 1864. Exploration and excavation of the Terraces are now possible. Even if degraded by the 1886 eruption, the White Terraces may earn a World Heritage listing and a second life in global tourism.

Coanda and Venturi Effects at the Eighth Wonder of the World - the White Terrace Resolving the East Wind eruptions at the White Terraces

The grandest geotourism attractions in the southern hemisphere, in the nineteenth century, were the siliceous Pink and White Terraces, the lost New Zealand Eighth Wonder of the World.

Fluid and heat flow at Lake Rotomahana prior to the 1886 Tarawera Rift eruption, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

The 1886 eruption of Mt. Tarawera, in the Taupo Volcanic Zone of New Zealand, caused significant changes in the hydrothermal system in the vicinity of the pre-eruption Lake Rotomahana. In particular, the world-renowned Pink and White silica terraces disappeared from view. Our aim in this paper is to understand the general features of the pre-eruption Rotomahana hydrothermal system, and how they changed as a result of the eruption to give rise to the manifestations of geothermal activity seen in the area today.We present a numerical model of the heat and water flow in the pre-eruption hydrothermal system surrounding and beneath ‘old’ (pre-1886) Lake Rotomahana. The model uses a simplified geological structure combining an upper ~2 km of volcaniclastic cover and ~ 1 km of underlying basement material into a single geological unit, in addition to a second unit representing the morphological boundary of the Okataina Volcanic Centre (OVC).Results from the model suggest that at least part of the present-day geothermal heat source, as inferred from recent MT and seismic imaging, was active prior to the eruption in 1886. Only models where this heat source is confined to the area to the north-west of the lineation that extends from Mt. Tarawera to Waimangu valley can satisfactorily reproduce the main features of the Pink and White Terraces hydrothermal systems.The morphological boundary of the OVC appears to be a major geological control on fluid circulation within the pre-1886 Rotomahana hydrothermal system. If the permeability of this boundary is reduced with respect to that of the surrounding material, separate geothermal upflows occur on each side of it which broadly match the locations and separation of the Pink and White Terraces and their respective hydrothermal systems. The simulations further suggest that the Terraces may have been only 3‐4,000 years old at the time of the eruption of Mt. Tarawera.

The first evidence-based altimetry for locating the lost Eighth Wonder of the World: the Pink, Black and White Terraces

This paper presents the first, evidence-based altimetry of old Lake Rotomahana, the site of the fabled Pink, Black and White Terraces, the Eighth Wonder of the World, in New Zealand. It is axiomatic the Pink, Black and White Terraces cannot be found

Reconciling New and Old Surveys of the Pink and White Terraces In the Taupō Volcanic Zone

Reconciling New and Old Surveys of the Pink and White Terraces In the Taupō Volcanic Zone

Hochstetter's Survey of the Pink and White Terraces: the Final Iteration

Hochstetter's Survey of the Pink and White Terraces: the Final Iteration

Photographic embellishment and fakery at the Pink and White Terraces

Photographic embellishment and fakery at the Pink and White Terraces

Locating Relict Sinter Terrace Sites at Lake Rotomahana, New Zealand, With Ferdinand von Hochstetter's Legacy Cartography, Historic Maps, and LIDAR

Te Otukapuarangi (the Pink Terrace), Te Tarata (the White Terrace) and Te Ngāwhā a Te Tuhi (the Black Terrace) were massive siliceous sinter formations at Lake Rotomahana, New Zealand, that were ostensibly lost in the catastrophic 1886 Tarawera eruption. Previous work using an unpublished watercolour map and notes by Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829-1884) have recently supported claims that the former Pink and White Terraces survived the 1886 eruption, and that they may be located under tephra adjacent to the modern lake margin. Divergent perspectives about the fate of Lake Rotomahana’s former sinter terraces suggest the reconstruction of New Zealand’s largest historic volcanic eruption is incomplete. We harnessed a wider amount of unique historic data recorded during Hochstetter’s 1859 survey than previously reported to hone the locations of the former Rotomahana sinter terraces. Volcanic landforms, the physical geography of the countryside, and former settlements are tied together via common sightings between sequential survey datums. Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) data supported the reconstruction of Hochstetter’s former survey and datum locations. Of significance, shared landmarks between the survey stations increased the confidence for resecting the 1859 datum position on the southern margin of former Lake Rotomahana. Hochstetter’s survey watercolour maps are part of a series drafted prior to a final version being professionally printed, and they do not portray a spatially accurate depiction of how sinter terraces and geothermal features around former Lake Rotomahana were arranged. As such, assertions of their superior cartographic nature are not well-founded, and application of them to provide former Terrace locations is compromised. The published pre-eruption map of Lake Rotomahana validates well against Hochstetter’s field diary measurements. When Hochstetter’s published map is orientated using reconstructed positions for survey datums at Lake Rotomahana, the former locations of the White and Pink Terraces lie entirely within the modern boundaries of the lake and not on land. The Black Terrace may have been destroyed and/or converted to an eruption crater, but may still exist on land (intact or in-part) west of Lake Rotomahana’s modern shoreline. This study demonstrates the value of historic cartography to improve understanding of volcanic processes.

The location of the Pink and White Terraces of Lake Rotomahana, New Zealand

ABSTRACTThe locations of the lost Pink and White Terraces of Lake Rotomahana, New Zealand are plotted on today’s map by using sightlines in photographs of the terraces before they vanished in the volcanic eruption of 10 June 1886. Evidence is presented that the terraces could not have survived the eruption unmodified, in their original positions, at these locations. These photo sightlines and map plots add valid independent evidence to the debate about the fate of the terraces, and corroborate the finding of the 2011–2014 survey of Lake Rotomahana by GNS Science New Zealand scientists and their collaborators from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA, that the terraces did not survive the eruption intact. Evidence is presented that Dr Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s 1860s’ maps of Lake Rotomahana cannot be relied upon for accurate bearings and distances between ground features around the lake and terraces, and that, consequently, A. R. Bunn’s locations of the terraces derived from the maps are not reliable enough to support his conclusion that at least some of the terraces survived unmodified in their original position, and may be uncovered by excavation.

Te Tarata and Te Otukapuarangi: Reverse engineering Hochstetter’s Lake Rotomahana Survey to map the Pink and White Terrace locations

The Pink and White Terraces were New Zealand’s eighth wonder of the world, until the Tarawera eruption on 10 June 1886 engulfed them. Without pre-eruption survey data, scientific and government teams failed to relocate the terraces, which were assumed lost. Over 2011-2012 GNS Science announced the rediscovery of parts of both terraces in Lake Rotomahana: however, by 2016 they resiled these claims, concluding the majority of both terraces destroyed.This paper maps their original locations based on reverse engineering unpublished 1859 survey data from Ferdinand von Hochstetter. Evidence suggests the locations may have survived the eruption, with the terraces buried in ash, crossing the shoreline on land not subject to local volcanic cratering. Excavation is conceivable. The Pink and White Terraces may again delight visitors in Rotorua via the Terraces Track, complementing the world-class New Zealand walking tracks.

The Pink and White Terraces of Lake Rotomahana: what was their fate after the 1886 Tarawera Rift eruption?

The Pink and White Terraces that once stood regally on the shores of old Lake Rotomahana, and which were unique in their beauty as a natural wonder of the world, were regarded by the local Māori as a taonga, or treasure, because of the therapeutic qualities of the waters and their majestic appearance. The eruption of Mt. Tarawera on June 10, 1886 is commonly cited as the cause of their demise, with the lake rapidly rising soon thereafter to drown the large, newly formed Rotomahana crater and other volcanic edifices shaped during the excavation of the old lake. Thus, the effects of the eruption have been masked from onlookers for more than 125years. However, application of state-of-the-art survey techniques usually applied in the marine realm to modern Lake Rotomahana, including AUV surveys with numerous sensors, seismic profiling, water column surveys and deployment of deep sea cameras, has provided a wealth of new information about the state of hydrothermal systems in the lake and the probable fortunes of the Pink and White Terraces.We believe that the majority of both sets of terraces were destroyed during the eruption. However, some tantalizing evidence remains for remnants from both sites to exist to this day. High-resolution bathymetric mapping of the lake floor clearly recognizes some features of the post-1886 landscape, including a prominent landmark known as The Pinnacle. If we accept the postulated location of The Pinnacle on a pre-1886 map of Lake Rotomahana, then we appear to have captured a photograph of one of the buttresses to a tier of the nearby White Terraces. More revealing, are side-scan sonar images of structures located in the correct position of the Pink Terraces with respect to The Pinnacle, albeit ~20m deeper than expected if the pre-1886 lake level of 292mabove sea level is to be believed. This work clearly shows that the greater Pink Terraces hydrothermal system survived the eruption and is very active today, whereas that part of the system that supplied hydrothermal fluids to the White Terraces has largely ceased activity altogether.

Reconstruction of the geology and structure of Lake Rotomahana and its hydrothermal systems from high-resolution multibeam mapping and seismic surveys: Effects of the 1886 Tarawera Rift eruption

Present-day Lake Rotomahana is one of the two focal points of the most destructive eruption in New Zealand's historical record, i.e., that of Mt. Tarawera on 10 June 1886, with devastating loss of life and presumed destruction of the iconic Pink and White Terraces that adorned the margins of the lake. Basaltic dikes are considered to have ascended near surface in the area, intruding into hydrothermally altered and water-saturated ground beneath the existing lake. The consequential hydrothermal and phreatomagmatic eruptions ejected 0.5325km3 of material from the lakefloor and below, plastering the nearby landscape for several kilometers with mud and other debris. The eruption buried the natural outlet of the lake, with the bottom of the craters becoming filled by water within months and completely concealed from view within years; today Lake Rotomahana has depths up to 118m.High-resolution (0.5m) bathymetric mapping, when combined with a 2-D seismic reflection survey, enables us to ‘see’ details of the maar craters on the lakefloor, including those parts subsequently buried by sediment. The large Rotomahana Crater described by workers immediately after the eruption measures ~2.5km in diameter near its southwestern end, and excavated ground to 155m below present-day lake level. The vent system, as revealed by the present study, forms an array of right-stepping (dextral) craters, with the main crater being host to two sub-craters Rotomahana West Crater and Rotomahana East Crater today buried beneath the lakefloor, and which are in-filled by 36 and 37m of sediment, respectively. Subordinate craters along the same 057° Tarawera Rift trace include Hochstetter Crater (11m of infill), Waingongongongo Crater (14m) and Rotomakariri Crater (26m). These craters host a total 0.0268km3 of sediment. Other features highlighted by the bathymetric data include; craters not filled by sediment, sediment fan deltas, volcanic ridges and dikes, submerged wave-cut terraces formed during times of lower lake levels and gas pockmarks, all either related to the 1886 eruptive episode or post-eruption hydrothermal and erosional processes.Application of results from bubble plume, CO2 flux, magnetic and heat flux surveys of Lake Rotomahana to this study, when combined with regional earthquake relocation analysis and broadband magnetotelluric data, suggest an explanation in terms of a magmatic heat source located south of Waimangu and a corresponding convective water/heat transport system extending thence to beneath the western end of the lake. A holistic approach has provided a coherent context for the eruption and its effect on the historical Pink and White Terraces hydrothermal system that appears to have been the eastern-most extension of a larger system that lay beneath the Waimangu area before the eruption. The newly named Pink Terraces hydrothermal system (~1.5km2) is a continuation of the historical hydrothermal activity that was concentrated on the western shores of the old lake, and together with the formation of the new, post-1886 Patiti hydrothermal system (~1km2) located SW of Patiti Island, mark the two distinct areas of hydrothermal activity in the lake today.

The Tarawera eruption, Lake Rotomahana, and the origin of the Pink and White Terraces

This chapter introduces the historical and geographical background for the scientific studies at Tarawera and Lake Rotomahana in the Taupo Volcanic Zone of New Zealand as detailed in this Special Issue of the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. It also presents the results of some original investigations. These are based partly on the large body of historical information that exists about the 1886 Tarawera eruption and the geothermal system at Rotomahana, and partly on the results of dedicated geological studies by other researchers within the Okataina Volcanic Centre where the historical events took place. Specifically, the new material here presented includes a detailed analysis of a previously almost neglected narrative by the only observer to witness the 1886 eruption from the southeast of the erupting craters and leave an account of his observations. The importance of a co-operative interplay between pre-existing tectonic deformation and its responses to strong seismic activity induced by magmatic intrusion is emphasised as being a major determinant in the course of the eruption, and as the main trigger of the eruption explosions that were audible throughout half of the land area of New Zealand. The chapter then concentrates on showing how the recent geological studies, in conjunction with ideas on the architecture of geysers, permit an explanation to be given as to how the unique Pink and White Terraces came to be formed.

Battle lines in the Hot Lakes District, New Zealand, c.1900: tourism development and the contested nature of place

In the nineteenth century, European visitors flocked to see the silica formations known as the Pink and White Terraces in the central North Island of New Zealand. The history of this visitation illustrates the contested nature of tourism development in a colonial context. Tribal warfare for control over the natural resources was a feature in the 1850s with Tūhourangi emerging victorious. Increasing visitation in the 1870s and 1880s shifted the battlefield into an economic sphere with indigenous entrepreneurship and agency a key factor of development. Tūhourangi met this challenge and controlled most of the commerce and kept their land-holdings intact. The Native Land Court became a new battleground for Tūhourangi as they successfully argued their case and were recognised as the legal owners of the Terraces. Despite acknowledgment of indigenous ownership, Tūhourangi would have had to engage in ongoing battles in order to keep their lands. The eruption of Mount Tarawera and the subsequent damage it caused, including the destruction of the Pink and White Terraces, stifled tourist activity in the region and left Tūhourangi virtually landless. The Crown were then able to purchase vast tracts of land without competition thus controlling any future development.

High-resolution water column survey to identify active sublacustrine hydrothermal discharge zones within Lake Rotomahana, North Island, New Zealand

Autonomous underwater vehicles were used to conduct a high-resolution water column survey of Lake Rotomahana using temperature, pH, turbidity, and oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) to identify active hydrothermal discharge zones within the lake. Five areas with active sublacustrine venting were identified: (1) the area of the historic Pink Terraces; (2) adjacent to the western shoreline subaerial “Steaming Cliffs,” boiling springs and geyser; (3) along the northern shoreline to the east of the Pink Terrace site; (4) the newly discovered Patiti hydrothermal system along the south margin of the 1886 Tarawera eruption rift zone; and (5) a location in the east basin (northeast of Patiti Island). The Pink Terrace hydrothermal system was active prior to the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera, but venting along the western shoreline, in the east basin, and the Patiti hydrothermal system appear to have been initiated in the aftermath of the eruption, similar to Waimangu Valley to the southwest. Different combinations of turbidity, pH anomalies (both positive and negative), and ORP responses suggest vent fluid compositions vary over short distances within the lake. The seasonal period of stratification limits vertical transport of heat to the surface layer and the hypolimnion temperature of Lake Rotomahana consequently increases with an average warming rate of ~0.010°C/day due to both convective hydrothermal discharge and conductive geothermal heating. A sudden temperature increase occurred during our 2011 survey and was likely the response to an earthquake swarm just 11days prior.

Interpretation of gravity and magnetic anomalies at Lake Rotomahana: Geological and hydrothermal implications

We investigate the geological and hydrothermal setting at Lake Rotomahana, using recently collected potential-field data, integrated with pre-existing regional gravity and aeromagnetic compilations. The lake is located on the southwest margin of the Okataina Volcanic Center (Haroharo caldera) and had well-known, pre-1886 Tarawera eruption hydrothermal manifestations (the famous Pink and White Terraces). Its present physiography was set by the caldera collapse during the 1886 eruption, together with the appearance of surface activities at the Waimangu Valley. Gravity models suggest that subsidence associated with the Haroharo caldera is wider than the previously mapped extent of the caldera margins. Magnetic anomalies closely correlate with heat-flux data and surface hydrothermal manifestations and indicate that the west and northwestern shore of Lake Rotomahana are characterized by a large, well-developed hydrothermal field. The field extends beyond the lake area with deep connections to the Waimangu area to the south. On the south, the contact between hydrothermally demagnetized and magnetized rocks strikes along a structural lineament with high heat-flux and bubble plumes which suggest hydrothermal activity occurring west of Patiti Island. The absence of a well-defined demagnetization anomaly at this location suggests a very young age for the underlying geothermal system which was likely generated by the 1886 Tarawera eruption. Locally confined intense magnetic anomalies on the north shore of Lake Rotomahana are interpreted as basalt dikes with high magnetization. Some appear to have been emplaced before the 1886 Tarawera eruption. A dike located in proximity of the southwest lake shore may be related to the structural lineament controlling the development of the Patiti geothermal system, and could have been originated from the 1886 Tarawera eruption.

A novel heat flux study of a geothermally active lake — Lake Rotomahana, New Zealand

A new technique for measuring conductive heat flux in a lake was adapted from the marine environment to allow for multiple measurements to be made in areas where bottom sediment cover is sparse, or even absent. This thermal blanket technique, pioneered in the deep ocean for use in volcanic mid-ocean rift environments, was recently used in the geothermally active Lake Rotomahana, New Zealand. Heat flow from the lake floor propagates into the 0.5m diameter blanket and establishes a thermal gradient across the known blanket thickness and thereby provides an estimate of the conductive heat flux of the underlying terrain. This approach allows conductive heat flux to be measured over a spatially dense set of stations in a relatively short period of time. We used 10 blankets and deployed them for 1day each to complete 110 stations over an 11-day program in the 6×3km lake. Results show that Lake Rotomahana has a total conductive heat flux of about 47MW averaging 6W/m2 over the geothermally active lake. The western half of the lake has two main areas of high heat flux; 1) a high heat flux area averaging 21.3W/m2 along the western shoreline, which is likely the location of the pre-existing geothermal system that fed the famous Pink Terraces, mostly destroyed during the 1886 eruption 2) a region southwest of Patiti Island with a heat flux averaging 13.1W/m2 that appears to be related to the explosive rift that formed the lake in the 1886 Tarawera eruption. A small rise in bottom water temperature over the survey period of 0.01°C/day suggests the total thermal output of the lake is ~112–132MW and when compared to the conductive heat output suggests that 18–42% of the total thermal energy is by conductive heat transfer.

The Dimensions of Tour Experience, Emotional Arousal, and Post-experience Behaviors: A Research on Pamukkale in Turkey

As the emotions settling in the center of the consumptions, the level of the emotional arousal directly affects the human behaviors. As tourists choose the destinations according to the emotions formed by pre-experience and the post-experience, the understanding the formation of the emotional arousal in tourism sector has been a mediator to understand the post-experience behaviors. In this context, the purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of tour experiences and to investigate the relationship between the tour experience dimensions, emotional arousal, and post-experience behaviors. To examine the relationship between the parameters, a questionnaire based on four dimensions of the 4E model (Escapism, Education, Entertainment and Esthetics) of Pine and Gilmore (1998) were conducted on tourists who visited Pamukkale popular with the white terraces and Hierapolis ancient city in Turkey. The data was analyzed with Structural Equitation Model (SEM). Results of this study indicate that tour experiences can be represented in terms of 4E dimensions demonstrating adequate reliability and validity. As the tour experience was disclosed in 4E model dimensions, only escapism, entertainment and esthetics have positive effects on emotional arousal. And also it was determined that the tourists’ emotional arousal affect the post-experience behavior positively as being a fundamental determinants of satisfaction and post experience intentions.