After our adventurous free day in Queenstown, Dan treated us to a late morning. With a 9:30 departure, we hit the road to our next stop, a small town called Twizel. Most of the drive was in a gorge along the fault between the Pacific and Australian plates, which created beautiful mountains surrounding each side of the road following New Zealand’s Southern Alps. We took one scenic highway-side detour before arriving at our intended destination: the south end of Lake Pukaki, a glacial lake running from the foothills of Mount Cook down about 50 km south.
We made sandwiches with baguettes and toppings brought in the cooler, and ate them while admiring the uniquely blue water from the boulders of the dammed end of Lake Pukaki. Here Dan gave us a basic introduction to glaciers, which are our focus for the next week in the South Island. Glaciers can be thought of as flowing bodies of ice, which carry rock and debris “downstream.” At higher altitudes, snow collects and compacts into ice, adding to the glacier. Further down the glacier, greater temperatures cause the glacier to melt and break apart. The regions where ice is being added or separated from the glacier are called the accumulation and ablation zones, respectively.
Our second geology stop of the day was a two-minute drive (and 20 minute walk) to some cliffs on the side of the same lake. We talked about till, which is the sediment carried by a glacier. Then, we had some time to sketch the outcrop, and came to the conclusion that half was glacial till and half was sediment deposited by water, likely a river. Dan also showed us an “angular unconformity” in the layers, caused by a period of erosion between deposition by different river paths. We learned the term “moraine”: the hill of the till. Moraines are formed on the sides and front of a glacier, and there can be a series of moraines left by glacial movement over time. Our stop at the lake concluded with a rock skipping contest, which devolved into a poorly conducted study of the sounds made by various rock shapes and sizes hitting the water.
We then completed our driving to our destination of our backpackers’ lodge in Twizel, and checked into our rooms. Some of the group met to drive to a nearby salmon farm to feed the fish and buy salmon for dinner. The next stop was the grocery store just behind our lodging to pick up the rest of what we needed for all our meals in Twizel. Four students cooked up a delicious dinner of grilled salmon, Portobello mushrooms, rice, and steamed veggies. After clean-up, we met for cookies and a lecture on glaciers. This included: the shape of valleys carved by glaciers, measurements of glaciers’ ages, and a discussion of the size and speed of glaciers. We went to bed with new knowledge, and excitement for seeing Mt. Cook and a real glacier tomorrow!
Night night,
Nora and Jagger
*Internet is terrible in Twizel! Will update with pictures soon!*
We made sandwiches with baguettes and toppings brought in the cooler, and ate them while admiring the uniquely blue water from the boulders of the dammed end of Lake Pukaki. Here Dan gave us a basic introduction to glaciers, which are our focus for the next week in the South Island. Glaciers can be thought of as flowing bodies of ice, which carry rock and debris “downstream.” At higher altitudes, snow collects and compacts into ice, adding to the glacier. Further down the glacier, greater temperatures cause the glacier to melt and break apart. The regions where ice is being added or separated from the glacier are called the accumulation and ablation zones, respectively.
Our second geology stop of the day was a two-minute drive (and 20 minute walk) to some cliffs on the side of the same lake. We talked about till, which is the sediment carried by a glacier. Then, we had some time to sketch the outcrop, and came to the conclusion that half was glacial till and half was sediment deposited by water, likely a river. Dan also showed us an “angular unconformity” in the layers, caused by a period of erosion between deposition by different river paths. We learned the term “moraine”: the hill of the till. Moraines are formed on the sides and front of a glacier, and there can be a series of moraines left by glacial movement over time. Our stop at the lake concluded with a rock skipping contest, which devolved into a poorly conducted study of the sounds made by various rock shapes and sizes hitting the water.
We then completed our driving to our destination of our backpackers’ lodge in Twizel, and checked into our rooms. Some of the group met to drive to a nearby salmon farm to feed the fish and buy salmon for dinner. The next stop was the grocery store just behind our lodging to pick up the rest of what we needed for all our meals in Twizel. Four students cooked up a delicious dinner of grilled salmon, Portobello mushrooms, rice, and steamed veggies. After clean-up, we met for cookies and a lecture on glaciers. This included: the shape of valleys carved by glaciers, measurements of glaciers’ ages, and a discussion of the size and speed of glaciers. We went to bed with new knowledge, and excitement for seeing Mt. Cook and a real glacier tomorrow!
Night night,
Nora and Jagger
*Internet is terrible in Twizel! Will update with pictures soon!*
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