Mount Nimrod (officially Mount Nimrod/Kaumira since 2010) is a hill in the

Hunters Hills Hunters Hills (also known as The Hunters Hills, ) is a range of mountains in South Canterbury, New Zealand. Naming The Hunters Hills are named as they were a significant hunting area for the local Māori at the time of European settlement. Th ...

area of

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

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 ...

Naming

The English name first appears on a map in 1863 but the reason for it being used is unknown.

Nimrod Nimrod is a Hebrew Bible, biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush (Bible), Cush and therefore the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Sh ...

was a biblical hunter which has led to speculation. The Hunters Hills are named as they were a significant hunting area for the local

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

at the time of European settlement. Known in the

Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...

as Te Tari a Te Kaumira meaning "the long range of Te Kaumira" who perished there in a snowstorm, hence the Māori name for Mount Nimrod.

Geology

The uplifted Hunter Hills are built on

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

basement with overlaying sediments including coal deposits. The uplift is related to the predominantly reverse Hunter Hills fault. The

fault zone In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic f ...

is not particularly active and has been mapped for , with a slip rate of less than /year, an average displacement at events between that occur more than 10,000 years apart.

Recreation

Hunting

The western slopes of the mountain are situated in public conservation land with hunting permits being required.

Mount Nimrod Reserve

On the mountains north eastern slopes is the Mount Nimrod Reserve northwest of the

White Rock River The White Rock River is a river in the South Canterbury area of New Zealand. It rises south of the Mount Nimrod / Kaumira in the Hunter Hills Hunter(s)hill(s), Hunter(s)-Hill(s), and ''variations'', may refer to: People * Hunter Benjamin Hil ...

. This is a haven for bird life and contains a waterfall. Access from the reserve to the hunting conservation areas on the far side of the mountain is not possible as the land in between is in private hands.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nimrod, Mount Hills of New Zealand Mountains of the Canterbury Region