Bruce W. Hayward - Volcanoes of Auckland: A Field Guide

Praise for the authors previous Volcanoes of Auckland: The Essential Guide

The Auckland of a beautifully illustrated new book has a sensational history, full of fusiform bombs, superheated steam, pulsating episodes and ballistic trajectories. the book includes stunning aerial photographs, historic paintings and maps, and information about the geology, landforms and human history of each volcano. NZ Listener

an excellent introduction to the formation of Aucklands volcanoes and peoples historical interactions with them. It is a handsomely illustrated, excellent guide book. And you cant help but think what a ridiculous place to build a city. Ian Steward, Waikato Times

a lavishly illustrated and approachable essential guide. I have often wondered how much green space the city would have if we didnt have these big lumps that are so damned hard to build on. Mark Broatch, Sunday Star-Times

With this essential guide in your Christmas stocking, you can go out and (re)discover Aucklands volcanoes, including those now frozen in time under housing or industrial estates. Mark Bellingham, Forest & Bird

Bruce W. Hayward is a retired geologist and marine ecologist based in Auckland. He is a former member of the Auckland Conservation Board and New Zealand Conservation Authority, and former president of the Geological Society of New Zealand. His wide interests in natural and human history have resulted in twenty previous books on topics as diverse as archaeology, the kauri timber and gum industries, the history of Auckland cinemas, New Zealand fossils, volcanoes, building stones and conservation; and, as joint author, the popular A Field Guide to Auckland.

Alastair Jamieson is an Auckland-based ecologist and photographer who has documented the regions changing natural environment with aerial photography for over 25 years. You can see more of his images at www.wildearthmedia.com

First published 2019

Auckland University Press

University of Auckland

Private Bag 92019

Auckland 1142

New Zealand

www.press.auckland.ac.nz

Bruce W. Hayward, 2019

ebook ISBN 978 1 77671 049 2

Published with the assistance of the Stout Trust

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand

This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior permission of the publisher. The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

Design by Carolyn Lewis

Maps designed by Bruce W. Hayward

Front cover image: Eruptions some 60,000 years ago created Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill, the second largest volcano in the Auckland Volcanic Field and one of the most elaborate archaeological site complexes in New Zealand. Photo by Alastair Jamieson

Back cover image: The central scoria cone of Motukorea/Browns Island, one of the least modified volcanoes remaining in the Auckland Volcanic Field. Photo by Alastair Jamieson

Back endpaper image: Rangitoto Islands inhospitable lava flows are still being colonised by a summer-flowering phutukawa forest 600 years after the volcano ceased erupting. Photo by Alastair Jamieson

Printed in China by Everbest Printing Investment Ltd

Maungarei/Mt Wellington scoria cone from the southwest in 2018. Photo by Alastair Jamieson

Auckland is often referred to as the City of Sails but it has an even stronger claim to the title City of Volcanoes. Not only is much of the city built over the geologically young Auckland Volcanic Field, but much of the city is also built out of its volcanoes the scoria cones and lava flows have provided much aggregate for constructing the citys buildings and its roads. The shape and form of the citys land area is strongly influenced by the landforms created by the volcanoes. Many of the citys hills and basins, as well as parts of the coastlines of both harbours, owe their origins to volcanic activity. Most of the remaining small volcanic cones are now much-loved parks that provide character to the city, playgrounds for its citizens and a sense of place for each suburb. Many of Aucklands older suburbs are named after their local volcano Mt Eden, Mt Albert, Mt Roskill, Mt Wellington, Mt Richmond, Three Kings, One Tree Hill, Mngere, thuhu, Remuera, Manurewa and Wiri.

Fifty-three volcanoes have erupted within 20 km of the citys centre, from Lake Pupuke in the north to Wiri Mountain in the south, and Mt Albert in the west to Pigeon Mountain in the east. For hundreds of years, these volcanoes have played a key part in the lives of Mori and Pkeh as sites for Mori p and 20th-century military fortifications, as kmara gardens and parks, as sources of water and stone.

How many volcanoes are there? When did they erupt and how do we know? Will there be another eruption in Auckland and, if so, where and when? Will we have sufficient warning to evacuate in time? What is a lava cave, a volcanic bomb or a tuff ring? Why were Aucklands volcanoes such an attraction to early Mori? Why is it that Aucklands freshest water comes out of our volcanoes? This book sets out to answer these and many more questions.

The book has two parts the first provides a general account of the geology and human history of Aucklands volcanoes, and the second, larger section provides a field guide for those who may wish to visit and explore each volcano or at least envisage what some of them once looked like before they were destroyed by our growing city.

Although this book is derived from Volcanoes of Auckland: The Essential Guide, published in 2011, its contents and format have been updated to reflect its purpose as a field guide. In the first part, a number of sections included in the previous book have been left out, whereas others, particularly those on the age of the volcanoes, have been extensively updated following recent research advances. In the second part, the sections on each of the volcanoes have been reworked to provide more detail about what you can see when visiting. Some illustrations have been retained but over 70 per cent of the photographs and maps are new. Since 2011, three additional volcanoes have been recognised (Boggust, Cemetery and Puhinui craters) and these are also included.

The best-known symbol or icon of Auckland City is Rangitoto Island the youngest and largest volcano in the Auckland Volcanic Field.

Most people think of a volcano as a single large cone that has built up by a series of eruptions over a lifetime of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years. All the iconic cone volcanoes of the world are of this kind and include most of New Zealands best-known volcanoes, such as Mts Taranaki, Ruapehu, Nguruhoe and Whakaari/White Island. Over time, this type of volcano erupts a considerable amount of lava and ash, often from a single vent at the centre of the cone. They all have a magma chamber at a relatively shallow depth (510 km) beneath them that periodically clears its throat and erupts part of its contents at the surface.