Super exciting and adventurous second day!! A few of us woke up early and watched the sun rise on the beach (only ~30 meters away from our apartments!), which was a wonderful way to start the day! At 8:00 AM we all met up for our first group breakfast and it was both chaotic (with 13 people in a small room) and delicious! Then we packed our lunch and piled into the cars, ready for a full day on the coast.
We drove half an hour to our first stop – the top of a cliff in Whakatane, which overlooked the cute houses in the basin and had an absolutely incredible view of the ocean! We had a group discussion about sedimentary transport processes and made observations about what agents might be involved in the movement of sediment in this specific location. We all came to the conclusion that one of the most prominent sources of sediment were the mountain ridges surrounding the basin, and the basin itself was a sink (where the sediment is deposited) - especially at the end of the long meandering river that winds its way through the towns and farmland. Then the conversation got even more interesting - Guil asked us what must be true if sediment is continuously being deposited in the basin, yet the ridges remain much higher than the basin. After throwing out a few different ideas and discussing possible options, we realized that the basin was actually a result of extension, and that the ridges on the western and eastern edges were moving apart and simultaneously the middle portion (the basin) was subsiding! *mind blown*
Next we drove to the Footsteps of Toi trailhead which was on Ohope Beach nearby. We got to spend a few minutes just goofing around and bonding on the beach, before working through the ideas of sorting, sphericity and ocean deposition looking at sand grains with our hand lenses #GABE (geologists always bring everything).
Hiking up the Ridge we saw view after view after view of Z-Land natural wonder, examining geologic phenomena and singing songs as we went. Each cove brought another lesson from Guil on everything from meta-sedimentary rock deforming ductily to the volcanic deposition of pumice – we saw the layers and thought it was sedimentary until Guil broke out his hammer, breaking pumice and passing it around until we solved the puzzle. We learned to make each observation on our own – and how to disagree (adamantly!) enough to find the answer.
Eating lunch in a grove of trees along the beach gave us the energy to finish our 9 km (uphill!) hike and to wrap up our education on sedimentary systems.
Some free time in the evening and some hot showers an amazing dinner in Whakatane we're pretty super stoked to get some well-deserved sleep. Goodnight fam!!!
See ya mañana - Gus and Maddy
We drove half an hour to our first stop – the top of a cliff in Whakatane, which overlooked the cute houses in the basin and had an absolutely incredible view of the ocean! We had a group discussion about sedimentary transport processes and made observations about what agents might be involved in the movement of sediment in this specific location. We all came to the conclusion that one of the most prominent sources of sediment were the mountain ridges surrounding the basin, and the basin itself was a sink (where the sediment is deposited) - especially at the end of the long meandering river that winds its way through the towns and farmland. Then the conversation got even more interesting - Guil asked us what must be true if sediment is continuously being deposited in the basin, yet the ridges remain much higher than the basin. After throwing out a few different ideas and discussing possible options, we realized that the basin was actually a result of extension, and that the ridges on the western and eastern edges were moving apart and simultaneously the middle portion (the basin) was subsiding! *mind blown*
Next we drove to the Footsteps of Toi trailhead which was on Ohope Beach nearby. We got to spend a few minutes just goofing around and bonding on the beach, before working through the ideas of sorting, sphericity and ocean deposition looking at sand grains with our hand lenses #GABE (geologists always bring everything).
Hiking up the Ridge we saw view after view after view of Z-Land natural wonder, examining geologic phenomena and singing songs as we went. Each cove brought another lesson from Guil on everything from meta-sedimentary rock deforming ductily to the volcanic deposition of pumice – we saw the layers and thought it was sedimentary until Guil broke out his hammer, breaking pumice and passing it around until we solved the puzzle. We learned to make each observation on our own – and how to disagree (adamantly!) enough to find the answer.
Eating lunch in a grove of trees along the beach gave us the energy to finish our 9 km (uphill!) hike and to wrap up our education on sedimentary systems.
Some free time in the evening and some hot showers an amazing dinner in Whakatane we're pretty super stoked to get some well-deserved sleep. Goodnight fam!!!
See ya mañana - Gus and Maddy
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