Mount Ngauruhoe on the North Island of New Zealand.
Our most distant Wooster Geologist this year, Andrew Collins, is now home from his semester abroad in New Zealand. He had many geological adventures, including that massive earthquake in Christchurch with its hundreds of aftershocks. Please visit his blog for the stories.
Andrew’s last trip in New Zealand was to Tongariro National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage site) on the North Island. He had, as he wrote, “a spectacular trek” of 20 kilometers between two volcanoes: Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe, with a third volcano, Mt Ruapehu, always in view. Mt Ngauruhoe was, as you might have guessed, used as “Mount Doom” in a certain movie series the New Zealanders make a fuss about.
Please enjoy Andrew’s beautiful photographs in this post, and then go to his blog to see them and many others in full size. We are very proud of this Wooster Geology odyssey, and we are also happy to have Andrew safely home!
You can just barely see Andrew as he climbs to the summit of Mt Tongariro.
Note the bright red layers of volcanic cinders.
Beautiful, mineral-filled emerald lakes.
Mineralization along a stream flowing through this active volcanic region.
And if you appreciate the New Zealand scenery, you might consider what it’s worth, and what might be needed to protect what they think of as ‘the greatest living space on Earth’:
http://www.wildlife.org.nz/
http://www.doc.govt.nz/
Oh my god. Maybe I’ll see that in a year!
I have a feeling you will, Anna!
Forgive me, but I have to make one correction. By the time I left, we were up over three THOUSAND aftershocks!
Anna: Do it.
Wow, Andrew. We’ll leave the correction in your comment for emphasis! Wooster is going to seem so very quiet for you this winter.