Fiordland

Location of the Fiordland region on the South Island of New Zealand

Milford Sound with Miter Peak

Mount Tūkoko

Eglinton Valley

Lake Gunn

Doubtful sound

Fiordland is a geographic region in the southwest of the South Island of New Zealand . The region encompasses a natural landscape that is characterized by up to 2,723  m high, partly steep mountains, fjords thatcut deep into the land, numerous rivers and lakes, abundant rainfall, a dense rainforest and an almost untouched and unique nature. It is not one of the politically determined administrative regions of New Zealand .

geography

Fiordland extends over around 232 km in north-south direction and at its widest point over around 90 km in east-west direction. Today the area is almost congruent with the Fiordland National Park and covers around 12,600 km ² . The eastern border of Fiordland extends from the northern end of Martins Bay on the west coast of the South Island, southeast to Lake Alabaster , then south along the Hollyford River and along the western flanks of the Alsa Mountains and the Livingstone Mountains , then the Eglinton River to the Following Lake Te Anau and the lake, further on the eastern side of Lake Manapouri past part of the Waiau River , passing Lake Monowai and Lake Hauroko to the east, to the western end of Te Waewae Bay on the south coast of the South Island. The southern and western borders of the region form the coastline to the southern part of the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea .

Administratively, Fiordland is part of the Southland region .

geology

The landscape was created by erosion that lasted more than 2 million years due to the glaciers moving towards the sea . They formed U-shaped hollows, the deepest points of which were mostly below sea level. When the glaciers melted, they released the valleys and the rising sea level created connections to the sea.

In 1961, the New Zealand geologist Bryce Leslie Wood divided the geological structure of Fiordland into four categories. In the first category, he included the mountain landscapes of the fjords that are typical for the region, with steep mountain slopes and thin layers of soil, which have an impact on the vegetation of the regions. These mountains consist mostly of slate , gneiss , plutonite and granite , i.e. types of rock that could withstand the erosion by the glaciers particularly well. The second category included the coastal terraces, which rise to around 450 m. Each of the terraces is underlaid with rocky alluvial soil , which rests on a more or less impermeable tertiary sandstone or claystone , which is called " Mudstone " in English . Between the first and second categories of geological features, there is a zone of foothills made up of slightly eroded tertiary sandstone and mudstone . The zone is widest in the area around Lake Hakapoua , Lake Poteriteri and Lake Hauroko and narrows towards the Preservation Inlet . With the fourth category he designated the isolated glaciated mountains on the coasts and some gentler slopes of the fjords to the south. They, he suspected, have thicker layers of glacial deposits and are more impermeable than the gravel deposits on the terraces on the coasts.

Mountain landscape

The entire area of Fiordland is mountainous. While the mountains in the north of the region, northeast to southeast of Milford Sound are mostly above the 2000  m altitude mark and the region with the 2723  m high Mount Tūkoko has its highest mountains, most of the mountains in the rest of Fiordland are mostly between 1000  m and 2000  m sloping to the south. The mountain slopes in the north of the region are usually steeper and flatter towards the south and have gentler mountain slopes.

Fjords

See also : List of Sounds in New Zealand

Fiordland has numerous fjords with access to the Tasman Sea or the southern Pacific Ocean. In contrast to Norway , where the deep valleys created by glacier movements towards the sea all have the term fjord in their name, the fjords of New Zealand were mostly called Sound , but sometimes also Channel , Arm , Reach , Inlet or Passage .

By far New Zealand's most famous fjord is the Milford Sound , which attracts numerous tourists every year and can be reached via the 120 km long New Zealand State Highway 94 and the 53.5 km long hiking trail Milford Track . The Doubtful Sound and the Dusky Sound can also have a certain level of awareness and are popular with tourists. However, the fourteen other sounds are generally less known and can, if at all, only be approached and visited from the seaside under restrictions.

Marine protected areas

Fiordland has a total of ten marine protected areas with a total area of ​​10,298  hectares . Two of them were expelled back in 1993. The others followed in 2005. All fjords, even those not designated as protected areas, have fishing and boating restrictions. The boat owners undertake to keep their underwater hull clean, are not allowed to discharge sewage into the waters of the fjords and must observe restrictions when anchoring. For anglers, there are restrictions on the size and quantity of individual fish species that may be caught. The same applies to all lobster species that live in the fjords.

Marine protected areas	Size ( hectares )	Year selected	Coordinates	comment
Piopiotahi ( Milford Sound ) Marine Reserve	690	1993	44 ° 38 '  S , 167 ° 54'  E	northern half of the fjord
Te Hapua ( Sutherland Sound ) Marine Reserve	449	2005	44 ° 46 ′  S , 167 ° 37 ′  E
Hawea ( Clio Rocks ) Marine Reserve	411	2005	44 ° 50 ′  S , 167 ° 31 ′  E
Kahukura ( Gold Arm ) Marine Reserve	464	2005	45 ° 07 ′  S , 167 ° 08 ′  E
Te Awaatu Channel ( The Gut ) Marine Reserve	93	1993	45 ° 18 ′  S , 166 ° 57 ′  E	smallest marine reserve in Fiordland
Kutu Parera ( Gaer Arm ) Marine Reserve	433	2005	45 ° 18 ′  S , 167 ° 09 ′  E
Taipari Roa ( Elizabeth Island ) Marine Reserve	613	2005	45 ° 26 ′  S , 167 ° 07 ′  E
Taumoana ( Five Fingers Peninsula ) Marine Reserve	1466	2005	45 ° 42 '  S , 166 ° 32'  E
Moana Uta ( Wet Jacket Arm ) Marine Reserve	2007	2005	45 ° 39 '  S , 166 ° 51'  E
Te Tapuwae o Hua ( Long Sound ) Marine Reserve	3672	2005	45 ° 59 ′  S , 166 ° 48 ′  E	largest marine reserve in Fiordland

Fiordland National Park

→ Main article : Fiordland National Park

The Fiordland National Park is today with the region Fiordland largely identical. Designated as a National Reserve on February 23, 1904 with an area of ​​around 1 million hectares , the area was granted national park status in 1952 . In the following years, other areas such as the Hollyford Valley , the Waitutu Forest and Solander Island were assigned to the national park, so that the park today covers around 1.26 million hectares.

World Heritage

Known as Te Wāhipounamu (The Place of Jade), UNESCO designated the southwest of the South Island as a World Heritage Site in December 1990. In addition to the area around the Aoraki / Mount Cook , the Westland Tai Poutini National Park and the Mount Aspiring National Park , Fiordland with its Fiordland National Park is also part of the World Heritage Area, which together covers an area of ​​2.6 million hectares.

literature

• Bryce Leslie Wood : Geological Factors in Fiordland Ecology . Ed .: New Zealand Geological Survey . Dunedin 1961 (English, online [PDF; 771 kB ; accessed on March 11, 2018]).
• Department of Conservation (Ed.): Fiordland National Park Management Plan . Invercargill 2007, ISBN 978-0-478-14279-2 (English, online [PDF; 3.7 MB ; accessed on March 11, 2018]).
• Ministry for Primary Industries (Ed.): Fiordland Marine Biosecurity Plan . Wellington 2016 (English, Online [PDF; 7.2 MB ; accessed on March 11, 2018]).
• Fiordland Marine Guardians, u. a. (Ed.): Beneath the Reflections . A user's guide to the Fiordland (Te Moana o Atawhenua) Marine Area . Wellington 2017, ISBN 978-1-988525-08-2 (English, online [PDF; 4.7 MB ; accessed on March 11, 2018]).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ministry for Primary Industries (Ed.): Fiordland Marine Biosecurity Plan . 2016, p.  6 .
2. ↑ Coordinates and longitudes were partly made using Google Earth version 7.1.8.3036 on March 11, 2018.
3. ^ Department of Conservation (Ed.): Fiordland National Park Management Plan . 2007, p.  15 .
4. ↑ Topo250 maps . Land Information New Zealand , accessed March 11, 2018 .  
5. ^ Fiordland Marine Guardians (ed.): Beneath the Reflections . 2017, p.  7 .
6. ^ Wood : Geological Factors in Fiordland Ecology . 1961, p.  15 .
7. ^ ^{A b} New Zealand Touring Atlas . 5th ed. . Hema Maps Australia , 2015, ISBN 978-1-877302-92-3 , South Island , p.  Map 63, 64, 69, 70, 75, 76 (English).
8. ↑ ^{a b} Fiordland Marine ( Te Moana a Atawhenua ) Reserves . (PDF 2.0 MB) Department of Conservation , 2010, pp. 14–33 , accessed on March 1, 2018 (English).  
9. ^ Fiordland Marine Guardians (ed.): Beneath the Reflections . 2017, p.  28-139 .
10. ^ First step in creation of Fiordland National Park . In: New Zealand History . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , February 23, 2017, accessed March 11, 2018 .  
11. ^ Fiordland Marine Guardians (ed.): Beneath the Reflections . 2017, p.  13 .

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap