New Pink and White Terraces Survey Fixes Terrace Locations

Press Release 10.6.2017

New Pink and White Terraces Survey Fixes Lost Terrace Locations

On the anniversary of the 1886 Mt Tarawera eruption, a new survey is published this week in the Journal of the Royal Society:

“Forensic cartography with Hochstetter’s 1859 Pink and White Terraces survey: Te Otukapuarangi and Te Tarata” by Rex Bunn and Sascha Nolden

The research paper reports the findings of the Pink, Black and White Terraces locations of old Lake Rotomahana. This follows the assumed loss of New Zealand’s eighth wonder of the world during the 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption.

Researchers Rex Bunn and Dr Sascha Nolden announced their findings in the paper Forensic cartography with Hochstetter’s 1859 Pink and White Terraces survey: Te Otukapuarangi and Te Tarata; on the 131st anniversary of the eruption over 9-10 June 1886. The three terrace spring locations have been plotted on land, and are not under the lake as imagined by nineteenth century colonists and accepted by some later researchers. The coordinates for the spring platforms, Te Otukapuarangi, Te Tuhi’s Spring and Te Tarata appear to lie ten to fifteen meters underground, around the shores of the new Lake Rotomahana, a water-body filling the eruption crater and some ten times the area and depth of the original lake.

The survey research was driven by Nolden’s 2010 discovery in Switzerland of the forgotten 1859 New Zealand diaries of nineteenth century geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829-1884). One diary contained survey bearings for Lake Rotomahana and the terraces. Nolden furnished and translated the diary, enabling Bunn to reverse engineer the diary data, resect the bearings, georeference the vanished lake and so plot the lost terrace locations.

Having established the lost terrace locations, the authors recommend a full archaeological site investigation, in conjunction with the traditional landowners i.e. the Tuhourangi Tribal Authority, with whom the authors liaise. Final proof of the terraces’ survival may be obtained via imaging (ground penetrating radar) technology and core-drilling. Core samples of terrace material can then be chemically analysed and compared to existing analyses of terrace samples, providing conclusive evidence whether or not the terraces survived the eruption. The authors anticipate this will lead to excavation of the sites with the ultimate goal of returning these iconic historical sites to the New Zealand landscape for the enjoyment of all.

Interestingly, the only surviving part of the old lake is the shoreline between the locations of the Pink and White Terraces. This ~750m stretch of the old shore lies under the new lake shore and along the 1886 eruption crater edge. The authors propose it be listed on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero as an iconic New Zealand cultural and heritage site

Editor Contact: Rex Bunn rexbunn2015@gmail.com

Link to paper at: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/udvDKhIh7cpfpy3GMBpB/full

Acknowledgment: ‘This article was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand on 7th June 2017, available online: http://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03036758.2017.1329748 .’

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