Pureora (known more usually as Mount Pureora to avoid confusion with the township, locality and Forest Park) is an extinct high

basaltic Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron ( mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% ...

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

located in the

Pureora Forest Park Pureora Forest Park is a protected area in the North Island of New Zealand. Within its rich rainforest are an abundance of 1,000-year-old Podocarpaceae, podocarp trees. It is "recognised as one of the finest rain forests in the world". Establi ...

between

Lake Taupō Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's northeastern shore. With ...

and

Te Kūiti Te Kūiti is a town in the north of the King Country region of the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the junction of New Zealand State Highway 3, State Highways 3 and New Zealand State Highway 30, 30 and on the North Island Main Trunk rail ...

on the

North Island Volcanic Plateau The North Island Volcanic Plateau (often called the Central Plateau and occasionally the Waimarino Plateau) is a volcanic plateau covering much of central North Island of New Zealand with volcanoes, lava plateaus, and crater lakes. It contains t ...

in New Zealand. The area of the mountain is in a scenic reserve that is "recognised as one of the finest rain forests in the world".

Geography

The mountain is covered in native forest and quite near the geographical centre of the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

which is slightly to its west. It is located on the boundary of the

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

and Manawatū-Whanganui regions.

Geology

Mount Pureora has a prominence above the surrounding countryside of about and a diameter of . It is to the south west of a smaller pleioscene

, Mount Titiraupenga, and both are located to the south of the ancient Mangakino caldera on a basement of

Waipapa composite terrane Waipapa is a small town in the Bay of Islands, Northland, New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 10, approximately 10 minutes drive from Kerikeri, the nearest urban centre. Waipapa itself has no school with most pupils travelling to Kerike ...

. The basaltic andesite lavas are made up of

plagioclase Plagioclase ( ) is a series of Silicate minerals#Tectosilicates, tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continu ...

clinopyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated Px) are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents ions of calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe ...

and

orthopyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated Px) are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents ions of calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe( ...

, with rare olivine and

hornblende Hornblende is a complex silicate minerals#Inosilicates, inosilicate series of minerals. It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole. Hornblende minerals are common ...

phenocryst image:montblanc granite phenocrysts.JPG, 300px, Granites often have large feldspar, feldspathic phenocrysts. This granite, from the Switzerland, Swiss side of the Mont Blanc massif, has large white phenocrysts of plagioclase (that have trapezoid sh ...

s with an age of 1.60 ± 0.10 Ma.

Access

The mountain top is accessed by several trails and has bike access. These include a portion of the

Te Araroa Te Araroa (The Long Pathway) is New Zealand's long distance tramping route, stretching circa along the length of the country's two main islands from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Officially opened in 2011, it is made up of a mixture of previously m ...

trail which incorporates the Timber trail and a branch of this called the Toi Toi track accessible off State Highway 30 near the township of Pureora. The Mount Pureora track is accessible also from back roads off State Highway 32, which lies to the west of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pureora Volcanoes of Waikato Mountains of Waikato Mountains of Manawatū-Whanganui Volcanoes of Manawatū-Whanganui Landforms of Manawatū-Whanganui Landforms of Waikato

Geography

Geology

Access

See also

References