Open AccessTe Tarata and Te Otukapuarangi: Reverse engineering Hochstetter’s Lake Rotomahana Survey to map the Pink and White Terrace locations
Author(s) -
Rex Bunn,
Sascha Nolden
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of new zealand studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.102
0eISSN - 2324-3740
pISSN - 1176-306X
DOI - 10.26686/jnzs.v0i23.3988
Subject(s) - terrace (agriculture) , geology , cliff , archaeology , white (mutation) , excavation , geological survey , volcano , paleontology , geography , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
The Pink and White Terraces were New Zealand’s eighth wonder of the world, until the Tarawera eruption on 10 June 1886 engulfed them. Without pre-eruption survey data, scientific and government teams failed to relocate the terraces, which were assumed lost. Over 2011-2012 GNS Science announced the rediscovery of parts of both terraces in Lake Rotomahana: however, by 2016 they resiled these claims, concluding the majority of both terraces destroyed.This paper maps their original locations based on reverse engineering unpublished 1859 survey data from Ferdinand von Hochstetter. Evidence suggests the locations may have survived the eruption, with the terraces buried in ash, crossing the shoreline on land not subject to local volcanic cratering. Excavation is conceivable. The Pink and White Terraces may again delight visitors in Rotorua via the Terraces Track, complementing the world-class New Zealand walking tracks.