New Zealand Maymester 2017!

Sydney – I have loved studying geology in classes at Vanderbilt, but for me, glaciers, volcanoes, and earthquakes have largely been confined to the pages of a textbook. But a textbook can't capture the smell of sulfur from an active volcano on White Island, the sight (and taste) of glaciers in the shadow of the Southern Alps, or the feeling of standing in a fault left by an earthquake. Aside from being just amazingly beautiful, this trip was an extremely inspiring experience - it was incredible to piece together the fascinating history encoded by this breathtaking place. If I had to attempt the difficult task of choosing a favorite experience from this trip, it would have to be our trip to the active volcano on White Island. Between the incredible knowledge that you were standing on an active volcano, the billowing fumes smelling of sulfur, and the ferry ride compete with sightings of seals and flying fish, this day was hard to beat. But in general, I loved how in New Zealand, each...

We woke up to what felt like any other day, but slightly somber for our last day out in the field and excited to rock on with our last bit of geology. It was a quick drive to reunite with Darren and his graduate student Liz Bertolett who came along to help us learn about Akaroa Volcanic Complex. After a windy hour and a half drive, we took a short break in the small town of Little Rock for some much-needed coffee and one last take-away brunch. Back in the van, it was another forty-five minutes of meandering tiny mountain roads, much to displeasure of the back third row of the van. When we finally reached Panama Rock and happily piled out of the van, we were greeted with an incredible view of the inside of a cloud! After a short hike to the top with a brief lunch break, we set out to start our last field exercise, but not without our routine stretch lead by Lieutenant Dan. Limbered up, our assignment was to split up into six groups dispersed across the crest of Panama Rock and measure t...

We woke up on our second to last day of the Maymester at the YMCA in Christchurch. We did our usual morning routine of making breakfast and packing lunches before we disembarked for the field. On our way to Kaikoura we picked up fellow geologist Kate Pedley. After making a two-hour drive North we made our first stop on the side of the highway to observe the effects of the Kaikoura earthquake. We could see 1m uplift caused by the earthquake. We viewed pictures of the damage done to the highway we were standing on that had been recently restored after being destroyed by the earthquake. The trees in the forest were at an angle from being displaced by the earthquake. Our next stop was at a church that had been shaken off its foundation and sunk in the ground from liquefaction. Then we discussed the harsh effects that earthquakes have on humans, both physically and psychologically. The people of Christchurch were also affected from a series of 3 earthquakes. Kate described the people of New...

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 t...

We woke up to a cloud in the valley at the Flock Hill Lodge, and we all filtered into the kitchen and made breakfast and lunch for the day. We got the news at 8:30: today - we were mapping. We were apprehensive. Mapping? Mapping on the North Island was marked by 5 different kinds of precipitation. But today we were set for clear skies and great visibility. After a quick lesson about geomorphology mapping and different symbols used for marking gullies, scarps, terraces, and landslides, we all piled into our respective cube-shaped vehicles and set out for a lovely field day, map boards in hand. Our first stop was on the side of the road next to a valley on the way to Cave Stream. Here we looked at the different terrace features that were present in the valley. We also looked at all of the different gulley features higher up on the slope and mapped both gullies and the attached alluvial fans below. We then hiked up a larger hill behind us, so we could get a better vantage point. Up the sl...

Today we woke up, excited to explore the amazing geology around our beautiful, peaceful, creepy mountain lodge. Our self-made breakfast and lunch packing were followed directly by a lecture from our new companion Josh. We received a brief overview of the geological history of New Zealand, and how the South Island came to be. Sitting at the convergence of the Australian and Pacific plates, the South Island is seated on both a converging plate boundary and a transform plate boundary. A really neat graphic showed how much this transform boundary has moved, bringing the South Island to the shape it is today. We also saw how quickly the mountains in the Southern Alps rose – about a centimeter a year. Over time, this should add up to mountains ~8 kilometers high. However, erosion takes off about the same amount each year, conveniently leaving the peaks in the Southern Alps approximately constant at ~3 kilometers. Then we hopped in the van and drove out to Castle Hill. Aptly named, Castle...

Waking up early, we all packed our bags and had one last breakfast in Twizel before piling into the van. Along the way to the field station, we made a quick stop at the St. John’s Observatory, overlooking Lake Tekapo. Getting there early, we had a short wait before the gates opened up and we made our way up the narrow and winding one lane road. At the top, we were greeted with an incredible view and a short exercise. Trying to not be distracted too much by the view, we broke out our trusty field notebooks and maps to sketch and identify glacial characteristics. We noted the classic U-shaped valleys, eroded moraines, and the glacial lake which all supported the evidence that the Lake Tekapo area had once been covered by a glacier. Next, we turned our eyes towards the lakes themselves. Though there was still a bit of cloud cover, we worked to decipher why the three lakes on the map (Lake Pukaki, Lake Tekapo, and an unnamed smaller third lake) all had different colors to them. We worked...

Today was a great day. After a nourishing breakfast, we convoyed to the Hermitage Hotel where we embarked on a spectacular day long traverse up the mountain. The first thirty minutes of flat terrain gave us some false confidence about the trail that lay ahead. We turned on to Sealy Tarns trail and began our ascent on the seemingly endless stairs. We hiked at an aggressive pace and took small breaks every 10 minutes or so, and after 300+ m of ascent we asked Dan if we were close to the top, and he informed us we'd made it about half the way. After a couple hours of our best mountain goat impressions we made it to a beautiful lunch spot overlooking two bright blue lakes and the Tasman Glacier. We ate our sandwiches at a picnic table surrounded by tarns, which are essentially just little lakes that are created by glaciers and collect rainwater. Then we decided to continue upward even though the groomed trail had ended. We saw some incredible conglomerates with beautifully metamorphose...