A foggy morning greeted us as we woke up for the last time in our temporary Flock Hill Station home. After a quick breakfast, we headed out along the winding roads to Porter’s Pass. We were skeptical when after only a speed stretching session Josh told us to sketch a seemingly nondescript valley, but as we worked with our trusty field notebooks, we realized something was amiss in the geoworld. We were actually looking at the Porter’s Pass Fault, a relative of the infamous Alpine Fault.
Through a series of hand demonstrations and Lydia’s sound effects, we learned about the transpressional movement that had occurred along this strike-slip fault. This fault is more complicated than simple lateral movement, but we could still see evidence that the land had been displaced by at least 30 meters through a series of prehistoric earthquakes.
Less than one karaoke performance away, we reached Cole Hill. Our sharp eyes spotted a Z-shaped riverbed and flatter area across the hill stretching from the kink, which we were able to identify as part of the same Porter’s Pass Fault.
Recharged by these impressive geological features, we hopped into the van ready for the drive across the Canterbury Plains to the long-awaited Christchurch.
Lunch was almost as enjoyable as stretching our legs and admiring the views from the top of an overlook at Pony’s Point. After lunch and, of course, Tim Tams, we broke out our map books to look at the surroundings. We realized that we were finally back on a volcano!!! We were standing on one of two craters on the Bank’s Peninsula, the Lyttelton Volcanic Complex, which erupted between 9 and 11 million years ago. It’s good to remember why we study what we do – we learned about the devastation of the 2010/2011 series of earthquakes in Christchurch, and how the shallow quakes can be incredibly destructive even if they are of lower magnitude.
We turned around to sketch and discuss a slope, which we then discovered was the focus of Josh’s PhD. It was good to learn from an expert in this field, especially about something with such an important human element.
To understand rock falls as both a seismic hazard and clue to the past, our adventures took us up a steep cow pasture, giving field geology a whole new meaning. Testing our ballet skills, we maneuvered past manure to analyze the impressively enormous boulders that littered the hill. By looking at the texture of the boulders and amount of lichen on them as well as the colluvial wedges behind some of the boulders, we were able to discern which boulders were the result of the recent earthquakes and which were from prehistoric events on the same hill.
From a simple hill scaling, boulder wrangling exercise we got a glimpse into how proper field geologists contemplate the surprising complexity of the slope. For example, when studying the wedges behind some boulders, Josh’s team* found charcoal amidst the sediment. This shows a burn - the deforestation by humans- which we then connected to how modern boulders roll farther than prehistoric ones! Between expert lecture and sheep bleating over it (and Dan spectacularly falling into a prickly bush), it was a great day in the field. And now, we chill in the Christchurch YMCA.
Good night and good luck,
Gus & Sydney
Through a series of hand demonstrations and Lydia’s sound effects, we learned about the transpressional movement that had occurred along this strike-slip fault. This fault is more complicated than simple lateral movement, but we could still see evidence that the land had been displaced by at least 30 meters through a series of prehistoric earthquakes.
Less than one karaoke performance away, we reached Cole Hill. Our sharp eyes spotted a Z-shaped riverbed and flatter area across the hill stretching from the kink, which we were able to identify as part of the same Porter’s Pass Fault.
Recharged by these impressive geological features, we hopped into the van ready for the drive across the Canterbury Plains to the long-awaited Christchurch.
Lunch was almost as enjoyable as stretching our legs and admiring the views from the top of an overlook at Pony’s Point. After lunch and, of course, Tim Tams, we broke out our map books to look at the surroundings. We realized that we were finally back on a volcano!!! We were standing on one of two craters on the Bank’s Peninsula, the Lyttelton Volcanic Complex, which erupted between 9 and 11 million years ago. It’s good to remember why we study what we do – we learned about the devastation of the 2010/2011 series of earthquakes in Christchurch, and how the shallow quakes can be incredibly destructive even if they are of lower magnitude.
We turned around to sketch and discuss a slope, which we then discovered was the focus of Josh’s PhD. It was good to learn from an expert in this field, especially about something with such an important human element.
To understand rock falls as both a seismic hazard and clue to the past, our adventures took us up a steep cow pasture, giving field geology a whole new meaning. Testing our ballet skills, we maneuvered past manure to analyze the impressively enormous boulders that littered the hill. By looking at the texture of the boulders and amount of lichen on them as well as the colluvial wedges behind some of the boulders, we were able to discern which boulders were the result of the recent earthquakes and which were from prehistoric events on the same hill.
From a simple hill scaling, boulder wrangling exercise we got a glimpse into how proper field geologists contemplate the surprising complexity of the slope. For example, when studying the wedges behind some boulders, Josh’s team* found charcoal amidst the sediment. This shows a burn - the deforestation by humans- which we then connected to how modern boulders roll farther than prehistoric ones! Between expert lecture and sheep bleating over it (and Dan spectacularly falling into a prickly bush), it was a great day in the field. And now, we chill in the Christchurch YMCA.
Good night and good luck,
Gus & Sydney
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