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Geology Of Taranaki
The Taranaki Region of New Zealand is built upon the Median Batholith in the West, and Greywacke Rocks in the East. However, no rocks older than Miocene times are visible at the surface. The dominant feature of the Taranaki Region is the andesitic stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, which is only about 130,000 years old. The dissected hill country to the East of the Taranaki Peninsula, and West of the Central Volcanic Plateau ( Ruapehu and Tongariro) is composed of soft Miocene to Pleistocene sandstone and mudstone. The coastal lowlands around Wanganui to the South have well-developed Quaternary marine terraces, and coastal sand dunes. The Taranaki Basin is the only area in New Zealand with significant known oil and gas deposits, many of them offshore. Basement rocks Basement rocks do not outcrop in the Taranaki Region due to the thick sedimentary and volcanic cover. However, the basement rocks have been inferred through exploration drilling, geophysical surveys and extrapolation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taranaki Region
Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth District is home to more than 65 per cent of the population of Taranaki. New Plymouth is in North Taranaki along with Inglewood and Waitara. South Taranaki towns include Hāwera, Stratford, Eltham, and Ōpunake. Since 2005, Taranaki has used the promotional brand "Like no other". Geography Taranaki is on the west coast of the North Island, surrounding the volcanic peak of Mount Taranaki. The region covers an area of 7258 km2. Its large bays north-west and south-west of Cape Egmont are North Taranaki Bight and South Taranaki Bight. Mount Taranaki is the second highest mountain in the North Island, and the dominant geographical feature of the region. A Māori legend says that Mount Taranaki previously lived with the Tongariro, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torlesse Composite Terrane
The Torlesse Composite Terrane is a plate tectonic terrane forming part of the South Island of New Zealand. It contains the Rakaia, Aspiring and Pahau Terranes and the Esk Head Belt. Greywacke (or Torlesse Greywacke) is the dominant rock type of the composite terrane; argillite is less common and there are minor basalt occurrences. The Torlesse Composite Terrane is found east of the Alpine Fault in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Its southern extent is a cryptic boundary with the Caples Terrane within the Haast Schists in Central Otago. It is named for the Torlesse Range in Canterbury. Description The Rakaia Terrane rocks, of Permian to late Triassic age (300–200 Ma), occur south of Rangiora. The Pahau Terrane rocks, of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age (160–100 Ma), occur to the north, and are probably derived from the Rakaia Terrane. At the boundary between these two terranes is the Esk Head Belt, an wide mélange of broken and deformed rocks. The Aspiring Terran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maui Gas Field
The Maui natural gas field is the largest gas, natural gas condensate and oil field in New Zealand, producing nearly three-quarters of the country's hydrocarbons, as well as providing energy for electricity generation. It is located in the Tasman Sea, 35 km off the coast of Taranaki and to the southwest of New Plymouth. It covers an area of 157 square kilometres and is located in 110 metres of water. The gas field was discovered in 1969 by a joint venture of Royal Dutch/Shell, British Petroleum and Todd Petroleum. It was considered a "giant" field at the time of discovery. Government investment led to a government organisation later called Petrocorp taking a 50% interest. This was later bought out by Fletcher Challenge Energy. By the end of the Maui gas contract in 2009, the Maui Mining Companies were made up of Shell (83.75%), OMV New Zealand (10%), and Todd Energy (6.25%). OMV New Zealand owns and operates the Maui gas field having acquired the 83.75% share from Shell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kapuni
Kapuni is an onshore natural gas-condensate field located in the Taranaki Basin, a ~100,000 km2 partially-inverted rift basin on the Taranaki Peninsula in the North Island, New Zealand. Discovered in 1959 and brought into production in 1970, Kapuni remained New Zealand's only producing gas-condensate field until the offshore Maui gas field began production in 1979. Geology Geologic history During the Lower Cretaceous (~150–100 Ma) Rangitata Orogeny, an accretionary wedge accumulated and was uplifted on the margin of Gondwana in present-day New Zealand. The resulting topography was eroded throughout the Cretaceous. After the Rangitata Orogeny, seafloor spreading commenced during the Middle Cretaceous. This resulted in the formation of the Tasman Sea as New Zealand separated from Australia. Normal faults, including the Manaia Fault, formed as the Taranaki Basin developed during seafloor spreading. Rifting continued until the Eocene (~56 Ma), when the Taranaki Basin und ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whanganui River
The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natural resource (after Te Urewera) to be given its own legal identity, with the rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person. The Whanganui Treaty settlement brought the longest-running litigation in New Zealand history to an end. Geography With a length of , the Whanganui is the country's third-longest river. Much of the land to either side of the river's upper reaches is part of the Whanganui National Park, though the river itself is not part of the park. The river rises on the northern slopes of Mount Tongariro, one of the three active volcanoes of the central plateau, close to Lake Rotoaira. It flows to the north-west before turning south-west at Taumarunui. From here it runs through the rough, bush-clad hill country of the Kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whangaehu River
The Whangaehu River is a large river in central North Island of New Zealand. Its headwaters are the crater lake of Mount Ruapehu on the central plateau, and it flows into the Tasman Sea eight kilometres southeast of Whanganui. Water is diverted from the headwaters for the Tongariro Power Scheme. Length The river flows for southward to the South Taranaki Bight near the settlement of Whangaehu. Notoriety The sudden collapse of part of the Ruapehu crater wall on 24 December 1953 led to New Zealand's worst railway accident, the Tangiwai disaster. A lahar – a sudden surge of mud-laden water – swept down the river, significantly weakening the structure of a railway bridge at the small settlement of Tangiwai. The overnight express train between Wellington and Auckland passed over the bridge minutes later, causing it to collapse into the turbulent waters. Of the 285 people on the train, 151 were killed. Timeline * 13 December 1859: The bridge was washed away. * In February 1862 J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lahar
A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extremely destructive: they can flow tens of metres per second, they have been known to be up to deep, and large flows tend to destroy any structures in their path. Notable lahars include those at Mount Pinatubo and Nevado del Ruiz, the latter of which killed thousands of people in the town of Armero. Etymology The word ''lahar'' is of Javanese origin. Berend George Escher introduced it as a geological term in 1922. Description The word ''lahar'' is a general term for a flowing mixture of water and pyroclastic debris. It does not refer to a particular rheology or sediment concentration. Lahars can occur as normal stream flows (sediment concentration of less than 30%), hyper-concentrated stream flows (sediment concentration between 30 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Tongariro
Mount Tongariro (; ) is a compound volcano in the Taupō Volcanic Zone of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located to the southwest of Lake Taupō, and is the northernmost of the three active volcanoes that dominate the landscape of the central North Island. Geology Mount Tongariro is part of the Tongariro volcanic centre, which consists of four massifs made of andesite: Tongariro, Kakaramea-Tihia Massif, Pihanga, and Ruapehu at the southern end of the North Island Volcanic Plateau. The andesitic eruptions formed Tongariro, a steep stratovolcano, reaching a height of . Tongariro is composed of layers of both lava and tephra and the eruptions that built the current stratovolcano commenced about 275,000 years ago. Tongariro consists of at least 12 cones. Ngāuruhoe, while often regarded as a separate mountain, is geologically a cone of Tongariro. It is also the most active vent, having erupted more than 70 times since 1839, the last episode in 1973 to 1975. Activity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mt Taranaki
Mount Taranaki (), also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is the second highest point in the North Island, after Mount Ruapehu. The mountain has a secondary cone, Fanthams Peak ( mi, Panitahi), , on its south side. Name The name ''Taranaki'' comes from the Māori language. The Māori word means mountain peak, and is thought to come from , meaning "shining", a reference to the snow-clad winter nature of the upper slopes. It was also named and by iwi who lived in the region in "ancient times". Captain Cook named it Mount Egmont on 11 January 1770 after John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, a former First Lord of the Admiralty who had supported the concept of an oceanic search for '' Terra Australis Incognita''. Cook described it as "of a prodigious height and its top cover'd with everlasting snow," surrounded by a "flat country ... which afforded a very good aspect, being clothed with w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sugar Loaf Islands
The Sugar Loaf Islands (often Sugarloaf; mi, Ngā Motu, ) are a collection of five small uninhabited islands and several sea stacks near Port Taranaki, New Zealand. The largest, Moturoa Island, covers approximately . Motumahanga is the island furthest from shore, at approximately . Ngā Motu was one of the first areas inhabited by descendants of Te Whiti o Rongomai, and the islands and reefs were all named by Ngāti Te Whiti. The island group was given its English name in 1770 by James Cook because the reminded him of the way sugar was stored in heaps in Europe. The Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area (SLIMPA) was established in 1991 to protect the area from oil exploration. This strengthened the protection that had been in place since the formation of a marine park in 1986. In 2013 New Plymouth district councillors unanimously agreed to gift the protected area back to the government for treaty settlement negotiations with Taranaki and Te Āti Awa iwi. Islands The Su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the epoch are slightly uncertain. The name Oligocene was coined in 1854 by the German paleontologist Heinrich Ernst Beyrich from his studies of marine beds in Belgium and Germany. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''olígos'', "few") and (''kainós'', "new"), and refers to the sparsity of extant forms of molluscs. The Oligocene is preceded by the Eocene Epoch and is followed by the Miocene Epoch. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period. The Oligocene is often considered an important time of transition, a link between the archaic world of the tropical Eocene and the more modern ecosystems of the Miocene. Major changes during the Oligocene included a global expansi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_at_Staglands%2C_Akatarawa%2C_New_Zealand.jpg "Click for more on -> Whanganui River")
