Drilling at Te Puru as Part of Auckland University Research Project

A small number of holes are being drilled near Te Puru as part of a research project being undertaken by Auckland University's School of Environment.

Several holes are being drilled from tomorrow at a depth of several metres in the reserves near the corner of Seaview Ave and West Cres, and West Cres and Rata Place.

This will help the University Project Team develop a chronology of the deltas over the past several thousand years.

"This drilling is entirely for the purposes of our studies of environmental history and is not associated with any commercial or resource extraction work," says Dr Mark Dickson, from Auckland University.

Dr Dickson is a coastal geomorphologist whose project team from the University includes Jon Tunnicliffe (river geomorphologist), Lorna Strachan (marine sedimentologist) and Andrew Allison and Kathryn Longstaff (Masters Students).

This method of drilling results in minimal noise and shaking, and should not be detectable at adjacent properties and the sites will be restored after they have extracted the core. The work should only take a couple of days.

"Our studies will enable us to answer science questions pertaining to the magnitude and frequency of events (e.g. river floods) that have shaped the deltas over geological time," says Dr Dickson.

"We will be investigating the influence of changes in sea-level and forest cover as well as river activity," he says.

The team have been using a range of instruments, such as ground penetrating radar (on the shore) and seismic profiling (offshore), to image layers of materials that make up the river-delta-marine sedimentary system.

They will also be looking to obtain some core samples to ground-truth their instrumental observations and obtain materials that allow them to date the history of change.

The project team consulted with our Council, DoC, local iwi and residents to obtain approval for drilling.

ENDS

© Scoop Media