Aurora Cave on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Aurora Cave is a Caving areas in New Zealand
Around 1988, a
Aurora Cave is a limestone cave
A solutional cave, solution cave, or karst cave is a cave usually formed in a soluble rock like limestone (Calcium carbonate, with chemical formula ''CaCO3''). It is the most frequently occurring type of cave. It can also form in other rocks, inc ...
, part of the 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 ...
in Fiordland
Fiordland (, "The Pit of Tattooing", and also translated as "the Shadowlands"), is a non-administrative geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western third of Southland. Most of F ...
, in the South Island
The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
of New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
on the western side of a deep glacial trough containing 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 ...
. 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
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 ...
of an extinct species of frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...
were discovered. It was named the Aurora frog (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 ...
).
See also
*List of caves in 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 ...
References
Caves of New Zealand Landforms of Fiordland {{Fiordland-geo-stub