Aurora Cave

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Aurora Cave

The mouth of the Burn Tunnel in front of the entrance to Te Ana-au Cave

The mouth of the Burn Tunnel in front of the entrance to Te Ana-au Cave
Location: west of Lake Te Anau , Southland region
Height : 469  m
Geographic
location: 		45 ° 17 ′ 42 ″  S , 167 ° 43 ′ 0 ″  O Coordinates: 45 ° 17 ′ 42 ″  S , 167 ° 43 ′ 0 ″  O
Aurora Cave (New Zealand)
Aurora Cave
Geology: Limestone surrounded by granite
Type: Karst cave
Discovery: by Māori , rediscovery in April 1947 by Lawson Burrows
Show cave since: 1848 to the lower 250 m length
Lighting: partially
Overall length: 8 kilometers
Level difference: 267 m
Average annual number of visitors: 55,000 (as of July 2006)

The Aurora Cave is a karst cave system in the Southland District of the Southland region on the South Island of New Zealand . The lower part of the cave system is known to tourists as the Te Anau Glowworm Caves .

discovery

The Māori already knew about the cave and called it " Te Ana-au " , which translates as "cave with swirling water" . Lake Te Anau , which is called " Te Ana-au " in the Māori language, was named after her . The cave remained a legend for many decades until Lawson Burrows , who worked in tourism, began searching for the cave in the 1940s . In April 1947, Burrows finally found what he was looking for, had the cave made accessible to tourists, but a flood in 1948 initially destroyed his project. Burrows did not give up and made the lower part of the cave system accessible to tourists.

geography

The Aurora Cave is located about 13 km north of the small town of Te Anau on the eastern flank of the Murchison Mountains . The cave system, which began with the infiltration of the Burn Tunnel at an altitude of 469  m , has a length of around 8 km (other sources indicate 6.7 km) and is 267 m deeper, just before the west bank of Lake Te Anau its end. About 2.5 km west of the seepage is Lake Orbell , the water of which feeds the Burn Tunnel and flows through the cave system of the Aurora Cave .

History of origin

According to science, the cave system was formed around 230 thousand years ago and experienced seven ice age periods during this time , in which the cave entrances were covered by glaciers and the cave system was filled with glacier water during these times. Sediments from these periods can be detected in various parts of the cave.

Cave system

The cave system has four entrances, the infiltration at a height of 469  m , the main entrance at 406  m , the so-called Kneewrecker Entrance ( knee breaker entrance) and the Resurgence (resurrection) on the shores of Lake Te Anau . The branched system consists of various corridors, chambers, passages and waterfalls. Names such as Goldmine , Weta Way , Big Room , Hall of Silence , Coalmine , Picasso Levels , Sump and Te Ana-au characterize the most distinctive rooms and the Twin Falls and Aurora Falls name the two waterfalls in the cave system.

fauna

In addition to the Arachnocampa luminosa , known in New Zealand under the name Glowworm , which can be assigned to the longhorn mosquito family , the Cave Weta , known to the Māori under the name Tokoriro , can also be found in the cave system . Also, a special type of harvestmen that in New Zealand Harvestman are called, are native to the caves. In the waters of the lower part of the cave system, the long-finned eel can be found, an eel that can grow up to 1.5 meters long and weigh up to 25 kilograms. The age of the species known to the Māori as Tuna can exceed 100 years.

Fossils

In February 1984, the New Zealand paleozoologist Trevor H. Worthy found subfossil bones of the extinct aurora frog ( Leiopelma auroraensis ) named after the cave . He also found remains of the extinct land snail Zelandiscus worthyi .

tourism

The lower part of the cave system is accessible to tourists and is marketed by Real Journeys under the name " Te Anau Glowworm Caves " . Depending on the source, different spellings can be found for the part of the cave, such as: " Te Anau Caves " , " Te Ana-au Caves " or " Te Ana-au Cave " in the singular.

As of July 2006, around 55,000 tourists visited the “ Te Ana-au Caves ” every year .

literature

  • Trevor H. Worthy : Osteology of Leiopelma (Amphibia: Leiopelmatidae) and descriptions of three new subfossil Leiopelma species . In: Royal Society Of New Zealand (Ed.): Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand . Vol. 17, Issue 3, 1987, ISSN  1175-8899 , pp. 201–251 , doi : 10.1080 / 03036758.1987.10418160 (English, online [PDF; 6.4 MB ; accessed on March 31, 2018]).
  • FM Climo : The panbiogeography of New Zealand as illuminated by the genus Fectola Iredale, 1915 and subfamily Rotadiscinae Pilsbry, 1927 (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Punctoidea: Charopidae) . In: Royal Society Of New Zealand (Ed.): New Zealand Journal of Zoology . Vol. 16, 1989, ISSN  1175-8821 , pp. 587–649 , doi : 10.1080 / 03014223.1989.10422923 (English, online [PDF; 9.9 MB ; accessed on March 31, 2018]).
  • Paul W. Williams : A 230 ka record of glacial and interglacial events from Aurora Cave, Fiordland, New Zealand . In: Royal Society Of New Zealand (Ed.): New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics . Vol. 39, 1996, ISSN  0028-8306 , pp. 225–241 , doi : 10.1080 / 00288306.1996.9514707 (English, online [PDF; 2.5 MB ; accessed on March 31, 2018]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robin Adair : The Caves of Te Anau . In: The Australian Women's Weekly . Wellington June 30, 1965, p.  15 (English, online [accessed March 31, 2018]).
  2. ↑ a b Topo250 maps . Land Information New Zealand , accessed March 31, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c Williams : A 230 ka record of glacial ... . In: New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics . 1996, p.  228 .
  4. ↑ a b Insider’s Guide to the Te Anau Glowworm Caves . (PDF 6.04 MB) Real Journeys , accessed on March 31, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Williams : A 230 ka record of glacial ... . In: New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics . 1996, p.  225 .
  6. ↑ Williams : A 230 ka record of glacial ... . In: New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics . 1996, p.  231 .
  7. ↑ Worthy : Osteology of Leiopelma ... . In: Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand . 1987, p.  208 .
  8. ↑ Climo : The panbiogeography of New Zealand ... . In: New Zealand Journal of Zoology . 1989, p.  633 .
  9. ^ Department of Conservations (ed.): Regional Economic Impacts of Fiordland National Park . July 2006, p.  14 (English, online [PDF; 80 kB ; accessed on March 31, 2018]).