Lake Poukawa
| Lake Poukawa | ||
|---|---|---|
| Geographical location | Hawke's Bay , North Island (New Zealand) | |
| Location close to the shore | Hastings | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 39 ° 47 ′ 0 ″ S , 176 ° 43 ′ 0 ″ E | |
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| Maximum depth | <1 m | |
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particularities |
Fossil deposit in the middle of a bog |
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Lake Poukawa is a small, shallow lake in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand's North Island . The lake is located 20 kilometers southwest of Hastings and 150 kilometers southeast of the Taupo Volcanic Zone , an area of high volcanic activity. It is the largest lake within a bog in the Poukawa Depression. The maximum depth of the lake is less than a meter and its diameter is approximately 1.5 kilometers. At the beginning of the 20th century, the lake was about 2.5 meters deep. However, the water level artificially lowered after a severe earthquake struck this region in 1931.
Lake Poukawa is one of the most famous fossil sites in New Zealand. In 1956 the paleontologist Russell Price began excavating the lake deposits. Especially in the Pleistocene and Holocene, Lake Poukana exhibited a species-rich water bird fauna. More than 13,400 duckbone bones have been excavated here since 1956. Among the now extinct taxa that were found at Lake Poukawa include the New Zealand musk duck ( Biziura delautouri ), Oxyura vantetsi , the Auckland merganser ( Mergus australis ), the Finsch's duck ( Chenonetta finschi ), the Moa-type Pachyornis geranoides that blackbacks - Little bittern ( Ixobrychus novaezelandiae ), New Zealand grouse ( Gallinula hodgenorum ), New Zealand coot ( Fulica prisca ), Malacorhynchus scarletti , Eyles consecration ( Circus teauteensis ) and North Island giant goose ( Cnemior ).
Twelve kilometers south of Lake Poukawa is the Te Aute swamp, known for its moas fossils and footprints.
literature
- MA Harper, R. Howorth, M. McLeod: Late Holocene diatoms in Lake Poukawa: effects of airfall tephra and changes in depth . In: Royal Society of New Zealand (Ed.): New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research . Vol. 20. Wellington 1986, pp. 107–118 , doi : 10.1080 / 00288330.1986.9516135 (English, online PDF 996 kB [accessed on January 17, 2016]).
- McGlone, MS (1978): Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand - Forest Destruction by early Polynesians, Lake Poukawa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
Web links
- TH Worthy: The Holocene fossil waterfowl fauna of Lake Poukawa, North Island, New Zealand. Te Papa Museum of New Zealand, 2004, archived from the original on October 15, 2008 ; accessed on August 25, 2014 (English, original website no longer available).
- Map with the location of Lake Poukawa in Hawke's Bay