Honeycomb Hill Cave
| Honeycomb Hill Cave
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 Speleologists in the Gradungula Passage |
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| Location: | Tasman , New Zealand | |
| Height : | 300 m | |
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Geographic location: |
41 ° 7 '32.8 " S , 172 ° 11' 12.3" O | |
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| Discovery: | Mid-1970s by Norman Stopforth and Barry Chalmers | |
| Show cave since: | guided tours | |
| Lighting: | No | |
| Overall length: | 14 km | |
The Honeycomb Hill Cave is a cave system in the Oparara Basin on the South Island of New Zealand . The Oparara River flows through part of the cave. It is just over 300 m above sea level. In 2008, Kahurangi National Park was expanded by 38 hectares to protect it , which includes the Honeycomb Hill Caves Specially Protected Area .
Emergence
The Oparara Basin consists of a 350 million year old layer of granite on which a 15 to 60 m thick layer of limestone was deposited on the sea floor about 35 million years ago. The top layer forms a layer of blue-green mudstone . The cave itself was formed in limestone over the past million years as a result of the combined forces of faults, glaciation, changes in sea level, and subsequent erosion.
discovery
Access to the cave via the Honeyflow Stream was discovered accidentally in the mid-1970s by forest workers Norman Stopforth and Barry Chalmers. In 1976 Buller Caving Group first explored the cave. Since then, a total length of 14 km has been mapped.
Fossil finds
In the 1980s, the cave gained international importance and the National Museum was included in further exploration. The largest collection of subfossil bird bones in New Zealand is in the cave. Bones of 50 different, mostly extinct species were found. The oldest bones are over 20,000 years old. They are in a very good state of preservation because of the constant temperature in the cave and the similar composition of the limestone of the cave and the bones. The carcasses or bones of the animals were washed into the cave by the water or the animals fell through holes in the ceiling of the cave. In addition, the bones of frogs and lizards and 40 different land snail species were found.
Among the finds are:
- nine different species of Moa
- the flightless New Zealand goose ( Cnemiornis calcitrans )
- Finsch's duck ( Chenonetta finschi )
- Haastadler ( Harpagornis moorei )
- New Zealand coot ( Fulica prisca )
- New Zealand cave swallow ( Aegotheles novaezealandiae )
- Stephenschlüpfer ( Xenicus lyalli )
- Kakapo ( Strigops habroptilus )
- Ragged crow ( Callaeas cinerea )
- Takahe ( Porphyrio hochstetteri )
- Yellowhead ( Mohoua ochrocephala )
- Petrels
Recent flora and fauna
The cave spider Spelungula cavernicola with a leg span of up to 15 cm lives in the caves and feeds mainly on cave horrors . There are also "glowworms" ( Arachnocampa luminosa ), bioluminescent larvae of a species of fungus mosquito.
Mosses and algae are found at the cave entrances. The area around the caves is made up of southern beeches and stone discs. The rotting leaves of the southern beeches release tannins , which color the waters yellowish to reddish and cause a low pH value . The acidic water promotes the further dissolution of the limestone.
Access
Because of its protected status, the cave is only accessible with permission or as part of organized tours.
Near the Bees knees ("knees of the bee").
Deposit of moa bones,
More moa bones
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Introducing the Oparara . Oparara Valley Trust , archived from the original on March 26, 2014 ; accessed on April 15, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).
- ↑ Steve Chadwick : National Parks gain ground . beehive.govt.nz , March 20, 2008, accessed on February 23, 2016 .