Wai-O-Tapu

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In the foreground is a crater lake filled with acid water from a 700 year old volcano. Frying Pan Flat in the middle, a crater with unstable subsoil, behind it a part of the green crater lake Lake Ngakoro .
The Champagne Pool , the 65 m diameter pond with the highest attraction value.
Controlled activity of Lady Knox Geyser
Mud volcano in Wai-O-Tapu - geothermal
Gas bubble bursting in the mud of the mud volcano

Wai-O-Tapu , often also connected Waiotapu written is an 18km 2 large geothermal area in the region Waikato on the North Island of New Zealand . It contains collapsed craters, fumaroles , hot springs, hot and cold ponds and ponds colored by minerals, and mud ponds from which gases of volcanic origin rise and burst on the surface as a mud bubble. The geothermal area was one of the largest in New Zealand.

Origin of name

The name Wai-O-Tapu comes from the Maori language and means “holy water”, where “ Wai ” stands for “water” and “ Tapu ” for “holy” or “forbidden”.

The area claimed by the Māori - Iwi Ngāti Tahu Ngāti Whaoa is named by the local tribes after the Waiotapu Stream , a small river that flows through the area and later flows into the Waikato River .

geography

The geothermal area of Wai-O-Tapu is located around 20 km south-southeast of Rotorua and a good 40 km northeast of Taupo , between the northern end of the Reporoa flat land and the two volcanoes Moungaongaonga with a height of 825  m and Moungakakaramea , which is also below the Name Rainbow Mountain is known and has an altitude of 743  m ( 36 ° 19 ′  S , 176 ° 23 ′  E , 38 ° 23 ′  S , 176 ° 22 ′  E ). The New Zealand State Highway 5 runs through the geothermal field, which is 18 km 2 in size and belongs to the Taupo Volcanic Zone , and grazes the area west to the south.

geology

The Wai-O-Tapu , the basis of which was formed by volcanic activities that took place 160,000 years ago, was only created in its current form by eruptions around 900 years ago. It formed in a fault zone between the Kaingaroa Fault , which runs just under two kilometers to the east, and the Paeroa Fault , which is to the west. The Ngapouri Fault runs in SW- NE direction below the area in which geothermal activity is visibly increasing . It is a branch of a previous fault that was triggered by the Paeroa Fault .

The water transported to the surface of the earth in hot springs is heated to up to 300 ° C in the layers in which magma is present from previous eruptions and cools down to between 70 ° C and 100 ° C on the way up. In cases where minerals are discharged in high concentration, the water changes color depending on the minerals in different colors, with yellow precipitates for sulfur , orange for antimony , white for silicon dioxide , green for sulfur and iron (II) sulfate , Crimson stands for manganese oxide , red and brown for iron oxide and iron oxide hydroxide, and black for sulfur and carbon . The pungent smell of “rotten eggs” that arises during the outgassing is due to the hydrogen sulfide that forms in the depths and pushes through crevices and rising water up to the surface of the earth.

Tourist attraction

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland

The Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland encompasses an area of ​​40 hectares licensed by the Department of Conservation , is the most active area of ​​the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal field and comprises 25 geothermal attractions. The operation of the visitor center and the facility was taken over by Te Arawa Group Holdings in 2012 and has been operated by the company ever since.

Lady Knox Geyser

One kilometer as the crow flies northeast of the visitor center of the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland is located in a not freely accessible area of ​​the Lady Knox Geyser , an artificially created geyser from a hot spring . Every day at 10:15 am, the geyser is activated for paying tourists by adding soap.

Mud volcano

About two kilometers north of the visitor center is the eroded mud volcano in an area protected by the Department of Conservation . According to a source from 1902, the volcano is said to have been 10 to 12 feet high at the time  , which corresponds to a height of around three to four meters. Other sources put it up to 20 feet, which would correspond to a height of around seven meters. The volcano is said to have existed in this form in 1925 (see photo in the reference). But the erosion over the years has meant that the volcano today consists only of a mud crater, from which small and larger gas bubbles constantly escape and burst with clear noises on the mud surface (see photo in this article).

literature

  • Waiotapu . In: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand . The Cyclopedia Company , Christchurch 1902, Auckland Provincial District , S. 815 (English, online [accessed March 25, 2017]).
  • EF Lloyd : The hot springs and hydrothermal eruptions of Waiotapu . In: New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics . Volume 1 , Issue 1 , 1959, pp. 141–176 , doi : 10.1080 / 00288306.1959.10431319 (English).
  • Jonet Ward, Bruce Burns, Vicki Johnson, David G. Simmons, John R. Fairweather : Interactions Between Tourists and the Natural Environment: Impacts of Tourist Trampling on Geothermal Vegetation and Tourist Experiences at Geothermal Sites in Rotorua . In: Lincoln University (Ed.): Tourism Research and Education Center (TREC) Report . No. February 16 , 2000, ISSN  1174-670X , p. 1–95 (English, online [PDF; 14.4 MB ; accessed on March 25, 2017]).
  • New Zealand Touring Atlas . 5th ed. . Hema Maps Australia , 2015, ISBN 978-1-877302-92-3 , South Island , p. Map 13 (English).

Web links

Commons : Wai-O-Tapu  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Māori Dictionary . Retrieved March 25, 2017 (English).
  2. ↑ Ngāti Tahu Ngāti Whaoa Environmental Management Plan. Waikato Regional Council , accessed March 25, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Topo250 maps - Taupo - Hawke Bay . Land Information New Zealand , accessed March 25, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Lloyd : The hot springs and hydrothermal eruptions of Waiotapu . 1959, p.  143 .
  5. ^ New Zealand Touring Atlas . 2015, p.  Map 13 .
  6. ↑ a b c d Wai-O-Tapu Guide Map , which is distributed to visitors during a tour. Status: March 2017
  7. ↑ Lloyd : The hot springs and hydrothermal eruptions of Waiotapu . 1959, p.  141 .
  8. ↑ Lloyd : The hot springs and hydrothermal eruptions of Waiotapu . 1959, p.  144 .
  9. ↑ Ward, Burns, Johnson, Simmons, Fairweather : Interactions Between Tourists and the Natural Environment ... . 2000, p.  24 (5) .
  10. ↑ Kristin Macfarlane : Te Arawa buys major thermal tourism park . In: Rotorua Daily Post . November 3, 2012, accessed March 25, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Waiotapu . In: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand . 1902, p.  815 .
  12. ↑ Lloyd : The hot springs and hydrothermal eruptions of Waiotapu . 1959, p.  151 .