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Aurora Cave
Aurora Cave is a limestone cave, part of the Te Ana-au Caves in Fiordland, in the South Island of New Zealand on the western side of a deep glacial trough containing Lake Te Anau. Aurora Cave is separated by a sump from Te Ana-au Cave (a tourist cave). The cave has been formed by the Tunnel Burn, which drains from Lake Orbell in the Takahe valley. Aurora Cave is 267 metres deep and 6 km. long. Around 1988, a of an extinct species of frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless am ...
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Limestone Cave
A solutional cave, solution cave, or karst cave is a cave usually formed in the soluble rock limestone. It is the most frequently occurring type of cave. It can also form in other rocks, including chalk, dolomite, marble, salt beds, and gypsum. Process Bedrock is dissolved by natural acid in groundwater that seeps through bedding-planes, faults, joints and so on. Over geological epochs these openings expand as the walls are dissolved to become caves or cave systems. The portions of a solutional cave that are below the water table or the local level of the groundwater will be flooded. Limestone caves The largest and most abundant solutional caves are located in limestone. Limestone caves are often adorned with calcium carbonate formations produced through slow precipitation. These include flowstones, stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, soda straws, calcite rafts and columns. These secondary mineral deposits in caves are called ''speleothems''. Carbonic acid dissoluti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Te Ana-au Caves
The Te Ana-au caves are a culturally and ecologically important system of limestone caves on the western shore of Lake Te Anau, in the southwest of New Zealand. They were re-discovered in 1948 by Lawson Burrows, who found the upper entry after three years of searching, following clues in old Māori legends. It later became a major tourist attraction for the area, as the part of the caverns close to the lake shore is home to glowworms. The unofficial name used by the national caving association is ''Aurora''. The caves are geologically young (estimated 12,000 years) and hence there is only one tiny stalactite. The Māori name Te Ana-au can be translated as "The Swirling Cave" (''te'': the; ''ana'': cave; ''au'': swirling) in reference to the water running through it. The water, Tunnel Burn, is the outflow of Lake Orbell. Lawson Burrows and his business partner Wilson Campbell set up Fiordland Travels as a tourism company for their venture. In 1965, they sold their company ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiordland
Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes, and its steep, glacier-carved and now ocean-flooded western valleys. The name "Fiordland" comes from a variant spelling of the Scandinavian word for this type of steep valley, "fjord". The area of Fiordland is dominated by, and very roughly coterminous with, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand's largest National Park. Due to the often steep terrain and high amount of rainfall supporting dense vegetation, the interior of the Fiordland region is largely inaccessible. As a result, Fiordland was never subjected to notable logging operations, and even attempts at whaling, seal hunting, and mining were on a small scale and short-lived, partly also because of the challenging weather. Today, Fiordland contains by far the greatest extent of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers , making it the world's 12th-largest island. At low altitude, it has an oceanic climate. The South Island is shaped by the Southern Alps which run along it from north to south. They include New Zealand's highest peak, Aoraki / Mount Cook at . The high Kaikōura Ranges lie to the northeast. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines such as Fiordland, a very high proportion of native bush and national parks, and the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The main centres are Christchurch and Dunedin. The economy relies on agriculture and fishing, tourism, and general manufacturing and serv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the List of island countries, sixth-largest island country by area, covering . New Zealand is about east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's Capital of New Zealand, capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and then developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Te Anau
Lake Te Anau is in the southwestern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The lake covers an area of , making it the second-largest lake by surface area in New Zealand (after Lake Taupō) and the largest in the South Island. It is the largest lake in Australasia by fresh water volume. The main body of the lake runs north-south, and is 65 km in length. Three large fiords form arms to the lake on its western flank: North Fiord, Middle Fiord and South Fiord. These are the only inland fiords that New Zealand has, the other 14 are out on the coast. Several small islands lie in the entrance to Middle Fiord, which forks partway along its length into northwest and southwest arms. The surface of the lake is at an altitude of 210 m. It has a maximum depth of 417 m, so much of its bed lies below sea level, with the deepest part of the lake being 226 metres below sea level. Several rivers feed the lake, of which the most important is the Eglinton River, which joins the lake from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Orbell
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger oceans, they do form part of the Earth's water cycle. Lakes are distinct from lagoons, which are generally coastal parts of the ocean. Lakes are typically larger and deeper than ponds, which also lie on land, though there are no official or scientific definitions. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which usually flow in a channel on land. Most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams. Natural lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers, where a river channel has widened into a basin. Some parts of the world have many lakes formed by the chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subfossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the ''fossil record''. Paleontology is the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance. Specimens are usually considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old. The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years old to 4.1 billion years old. Early edition, published online before print. The observation in the 19th century that certain fossils were associated with certain rock strata led to the recognition of a geological timescale and the relative ages of different fossils. The development of radiometric dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed scientists to quantitatively measure the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock dating suggests their split from other amphibians may extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest. Frogs account for around 88% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from taxonomy or evolutionary history. An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriorly-attached tongue, limbs folded underneath, and no tail (the tail of tailed frogs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leiopelma Auroraensis
''Leiopelma auroraensis'', known as the Aurora frog, is an extinct species of frog that was found in New Zealand. One subfossil of the Aurora frog has been discovered in the Aurora Cave, Fiordland, New Zealand. It measured about 60 mm from the snout to the vent. It is named after the Aurora Cave for where it was found. The other extinct New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ... frogs are Markham's frog and Waitomo frog. Aurora frog probably was a local form that had evolved from the more widely distributed Markham's frog. See also *List of amphibians of New Zealand *List of extinct animals of New Zealand References Leiopelmatidae Amphibians of New Zealand Extinct animals of New Zealand Amphibians described in 1987 {{Anura-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caves Of New Zealand
The following is a list of some of the more well known caves and caverns in New Zealand. Not all caves have an official name as set by the New Zealand Geographic Board. The national caving association maintains maps of all known surveyed caves and the name is generally allocated by the group who first discovered the cave. North Island caves *Many lava tubes and lava caves in the Auckland volcanic field, including: ** Rangitoto lava caves ** Wiri Lava Cave * Waitomo district: ** Aranui Cave **Gardner's Gut **Ruakuri Cave ** Waitomo Cave South Island caves *Broken River Cave * Cathedral Caves *Cave Stream *Clifden Limestone Caves * Honeycomb Hill Cave * Metro Cave / Te Ananui Cave * Mount Arthur caves: **Ellis Basin cave system **Nettlebed Cave *Moncks Cave * Mount Owen caves: **Bohemia Cave **Bulmer Cavern *Rawhiti Cave * Riwaka Resurgence *Tākaka Hill caves: **Harwoods Hole **Ngārua Caves *Te Ana-au Caves **Aurora Cave Aurora Cave is a limestone cave, part of the Te Ana- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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