title: Properties and Distribution of Soils on the Ruataniwha Plains, Hawke’s Bay: A New Approach Integrating Classical and Digital Mapping Techniques

authors: Hainsworth, Sharn Bernard

subjects: Digital soil map

abstract: This thesis is about soil properties and their spatial distribution on the Ruataniwha Plains in central Hawke’s Bay. The Ruataniwha Plains are situated between the Ruahine Ranges in the west, Takapau in the south and Waikpukurau in the east. Soil moisture deficits are common in the Ruataniwha Plains and the underlying aquifers are currently fully allocated for irrigation. The central Hawke’s Bay irrigation scheme (the scheme) has thus been proposed. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has recently made available the ‘Irrigation Acceleration Fund’ to “support the potential for irrigated agriculture to contribute to sustainable economic growth throughout New Zealand”. The Ministry for the Environment has also recently published the National Policy Statement on Fresh-Water Management (2011), which regulates to ensure that not only are life-supporting capacities related to water maintained, but also to ensure that water quality is improved. A sufficient level of detail about the properties and spatial distribution of soils in the Ruataniwha Plains is therefore required to evaluate the potential changes in productivity, versatility and environmental impacts from the scheme. Although information about the spatial distribution of soils in the Ruataniwha Plains is available at 1:50,000, more detailed soil information not currently available, will be required at the feasibility, resource assessment, concept design and implementation stages of the scheme (1:25,000–1:5,000, respectively). Information about the physical, chemical and hydrological properties of the soils of the Ruataniwha Plains will also be required, but is currently very limited in availability. A land systems model has been developed. Existing information about the properties of the soils of the Ruataniwha Plains has been reclassified using the New Zealand Soil Classification and S-Map systems, thus enabling correlation to national datasets about soils with similar properties. Correlation to the national SMap database has also provided new estimates of soil properties using pedotransfer functions that can be rapidly updated nation-wide. By combining legacy soils data and that derived from the S-Map database, a new soils-based land use capability (LUC) map and associated database have been developed. The LUC data can be linked to maps of any scale, provided the soil map units are classified using the S-Map family and sibling nomenclature. The new LUC map assumed that all land had been artificially drained where necessary and incorporated data about the spatial distribution of currently irrigated farms in the Ruataniwha Plains. Drainage and soil moisture deficit limitations were removed thus resulting in upgrades of LUC units in the relevant areas of the LUC map. The resultant LUC information includes estimates of productivity for each LUC unit. The total productivity of the soils of the Ruataniwha Plains, in the current (2011) scenario was calculated. A second, hypothetical, scenario was developed, where all soils in the Ruataniwha Plains were assumed to be irrigated, and the total productivity of all of the soils in the Ruataniwha Plains under this future scenario was compared with the current (2011) scenario, showing an increase in productivity. The value of this process is the demonstration of a viable method for comparisons of the impact of irrigation on general versatility and productivity. Information about soil properties derived from the reclassification of the original soils information into the nomenclature of the S-Map and LUC systems was used to evaluate the soils of the Ruataniwha Plains for their versatility for orchard cropping, and their suitability for the application of farm dairy effluent. A new 1:25,000 scale digital soil map of the Ruataniwha Plains was produced. Landforms were spatially delineated at 1:25,000 using aerial photograph interpretation. Flow-direction, topographic wetness index and curvature co-variate layers were produced from a LiDAR-based 6.25m DEM. The co-variate layers were reclassified into landform components within landforms within field-based training windows, then extrapolated across the Ruataniwha Plains using the 1:25,000 landforms map. The training windows were also used to validate previously determined soil-landscape relationships. These soil-landscape relationships were then applied to the landform-landform component map to produce the final soil map.

text: Properties and Distribution of Soils on the Ruataniwha Plains, Hawke’s Bay: A New Approach Integrating Classical and Digital Mapping Techniques This thesis is about soil properties and their spatial distribution on the Ruataniwha Plains in central Hawke’s Bay. The Ruataniwha Plains are situated between the Ruahine Ranges in the west, Takapau in the south and Waikpukurau in the east. Soil moisture deficits are common in the Ruataniwha Plains and the underlying aquifers are currently fully allocated for irrigation. The central Hawke’s Bay irrigation scheme (the scheme) has thus been proposed. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has recently made available the ‘Irrigation Acceleration Fund’ to “support the potential for irrigated agriculture to contribute to sustainable economic growth throughout New Zealand”. The Ministry for the Environment has also recently published the National Policy Statement on Fresh-Water Management (2011), which regulates to ensure that not only are life-supporting capacities related to water maintained, but also to ensure that water quality is improved. A sufficient level of detail about the properties and spatial distribution of soils in the Ruataniwha Plains is therefore required to evaluate the potential changes in productivity, versatility and environmental impacts from the scheme. Although information about the spatial distribution of soils in the Ruataniwha Plains is available at 1:50,000, more detailed soil information not currently available, will be required at the feasibility, resource assessment, concept design and implementation stages of the scheme (1:25,000–1:5,000, respectively). Information about the physical, chemical and hydrological properties of the soils of the Ruataniwha Plains will also be required, but is currently very limited in availability. A land systems model has been developed. Existing information about the properties of the soils of the Ruataniwha Plains has been reclassified using the New Zealand Soil Classification and S-Map systems, thus enabling correlation to national datasets about soils with similar properties. Correlation to the national SMap database has also provided new estimates of soil properties using pedotransfer functions that can be rapidly updated nation-wide. By combining legacy soils data and that derived from the S-Map database, a new soils-based land use capability (LUC) map and associated database have been developed. The LUC data can be linked to maps of any scale, provided the soil map units are classified using the S-Map family and sibling nomenclature. The new LUC map assumed that all land had been artificially drained where necessary and incorporated data about the spatial distribution of currently irrigated farms in the Ruataniwha Plains. Drainage and soil moisture deficit limitations were removed thus resulting in upgrades of LUC units in the relevant areas of the LUC map. The resultant LUC information includes estimates of productivity for each LUC unit. The total productivity of the soils of the Ruataniwha Plains, in the current (2011) scenario was calculated. A second, hypothetical, scenario was developed, where all soils in the Ruataniwha Plains were assumed to be irrigated, and the total productivity of all of the soils in the Ruataniwha Plains under this future scenario was compared with the current (2011) scenario, showing an increase in productivity. The value of this process is the demonstration of a viable method for comparisons of the impact of irrigation on general versatility and productivity. Information about soil properties derived from the reclassification of the original soils information into the nomenclature of the S-Map and LUC systems was used to evaluate the soils of the Ruataniwha Plains for their versatility for orchard cropping, and their suitability for the application of farm dairy effluent. A new 1:25,000 scale digital soil map of the Ruataniwha Plains was produced. Landforms were spatially delineated at 1:25,000 using aerial photograph interpretation. Flow-direction, topographic wetness index and curvature co-variate layers were produced from a LiDAR-based 6.25m DEM. The co-variate layers were reclassified into landform components within landforms within field-based training windows, then extrapolated across the Ruataniwha Plains using the 1:25,000 landforms map. The training windows were also used to validate previously determined soil-landscape relationships. These soil-landscape relationships were then applied to the landform-landform component map to produce the final soil map.

year: 2011

title: Petrogenesis of the Rifted Southern Victoria Land Lithospheric Mantle, Antarctica, Inferred from Petrography, Geochemistry, Thermobarometry and Oxybarometry of Peridotite and Pyroxenite Xenoliths from the Mount Morning Eruptive Centre

authors: Martin, Adam P.

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: The lithospheric mantle beneath West Antarctica has been characterized using petrology, whole-rock and mineral major element geochemistry, whole-rock trace element chemistry and Mössbauer spectroscopy data obtained on a suite of peridotite (lherzolite and harzburgite) and pyroxenite xenoliths from the Mount Morning eruptive centre, Southern Victoria Land. The timing of pyroxenite formation in Victoria Land overlaps with subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific plate beneath the Gondwana margin and pyroxenite is likely to have formed when fluids derived from, or modified by, melting of the subducting, eclogitic, oceanic crustal plate percolated through peridotite of the lithospheric mantle. Subsequent melting of lithospheric pyroxenite veins similar to those represented in the Mount Morning xenolith suite has contributed to the enriched trace element (and isotope) signatures seen in Cenozoic volcanic rocks from Mount Morning, elsewhere in Victoria Land and Zealandia. In general, the harzburgite xenoliths reflect between 20 and 30% melt depletion. Their depleted element budgets are consistent with Archaean cratonization ages and they have mantle-normalized trace element patterns comparable with typical subcontinental lithospheric mantle. The spinel lherzolite mineral data suggest a similar amount of depletion to that recorded in the harzburgites (20–30%), whereas plagioclase lherzolite mineral data suggest <15% melt depletion. The lherzolite (spinel and plagioclase) xenolith whole-rocks have compositions indicating <20% melt depletion, consistent with Proterozoic to Phanerozoic cratonization ages, and have mantle-normalized trace element patterns comparable with typical depleted mid-ocean ridge mantle. All peridotite xenoliths have undergone a number of melt–rock reaction events. Melting took place mainly in the spinel peridotite stability field, but one plagioclase peridotite group containing high-sodium clinopyroxenes is best modelled by melting in the garnet field. Median oxygen fugacity estimates based on Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements of spinel and pyroxene for spinel-facies conditions in the rifted Antarctic lithosphere are –0·6 Δlog fO₂ at Mount Morning and –1·0 ± 0·1 (1σ) Δlog fO₂ for all of Victoria Land, relative to the fayalite–magnetite–quartz buffer. These values are in good agreement with a calculated global median value of –0·9 ± 0·1 (1σ) Δlog fO₂ for mantle spinel-facies rocks from continental rift systems.

text: Petrogenesis of the Rifted Southern Victoria Land Lithospheric Mantle, Antarctica, Inferred from Petrography, Geochemistry, Thermobarometry and Oxybarometry of Peridotite and Pyroxenite Xenoliths from the Mount Morning Eruptive Centre The lithospheric mantle beneath West Antarctica has been characterized using petrology, whole-rock and mineral major element geochemistry, whole-rock trace element chemistry and Mössbauer spectroscopy data obtained on a suite of peridotite (lherzolite and harzburgite) and pyroxenite xenoliths from the Mount Morning eruptive centre, Southern Victoria Land. The timing of pyroxenite formation in Victoria Land overlaps with subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific plate beneath the Gondwana margin and pyroxenite is likely to have formed when fluids derived from, or modified by, melting of the subducting, eclogitic, oceanic crustal plate percolated through peridotite of the lithospheric mantle. Subsequent melting of lithospheric pyroxenite veins similar to those represented in the Mount Morning xenolith suite has contributed to the enriched trace element (and isotope) signatures seen in Cenozoic volcanic rocks from Mount Morning, elsewhere in Victoria Land and Zealandia. In general, the harzburgite xenoliths reflect between 20 and 30% melt depletion. Their depleted element budgets are consistent with Archaean cratonization ages and they have mantle-normalized trace element patterns comparable with typical subcontinental lithospheric mantle. The spinel lherzolite mineral data suggest a similar amount of depletion to that recorded in the harzburgites (20–30%), whereas plagioclase lherzolite mineral data suggest <15% melt depletion. The lherzolite (spinel and plagioclase) xenolith whole-rocks have compositions indicating <20% melt depletion, consistent with Proterozoic to Phanerozoic cratonization ages, and have mantle-normalized trace element patterns comparable with typical depleted mid-ocean ridge mantle. All peridotite xenoliths have undergone a number of melt–rock reaction events. Melting took place mainly in the spinel peridotite stability field, but one plagioclase peridotite group containing high-sodium clinopyroxenes is best modelled by melting in the garnet field. Median oxygen fugacity estimates based on Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements of spinel and pyroxene for spinel-facies conditions in the rifted Antarctic lithosphere are –0·6 Δlog fO₂ at Mount Morning and –1·0 ± 0·1 (1σ) Δlog fO₂ for all of Victoria Land, relative to the fayalite–magnetite–quartz buffer. These values are in good agreement with a calculated global median value of –0·9 ± 0·1 (1σ) Δlog fO₂ for mantle spinel-facies rocks from continental rift systems.

year: 2015

title: Using a digital library as a Māori language learning resource: Issues and possibilities

authors: Mato, Paora James

subjects: Digital Library

abstract: The development of electronic language learning resources, founded on digital library technology, is a capability that, to date, is largely unrealised. The Flexible Language Acquisition (FLAX) project is a digital library initiative at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. The current FLAX activities provide practice for students who are learning English as an additional language. The prospect of extending this resource to include te reo Māori is as exciting as it is groundbreaking. The outcomes of this research inform the issues and possibilities involved in creating such resources.

The World Wide Web has allowed an everyday access to the Internet, but finding and retrieving pertinent information is often a convoluted and time-consuming exercise. The normal outcome is that users are unable to take full advantage of the available resources. Digital libraries have an unprecedented power in terms of organising and storing vast amounts of information and, with built-in retrieval functionality, serve as ideal repositories. The ability to focus the information within these repositories is extremely significant because there is no longer the chaff that normally results from Internet searches. Purposeful learning activities can be presented exploiting an assortment of media and drawing on stored information that can be assembled in a range of formats. Such capacity, flexibility and diversity is normally only encountered at traditional, physical libraries.

The research includes an overview of digital libraries and some of the language learning resources that are currently available on the Internet. Since the target language is te reo Māori, a critical review on the features of kaupapa Māori theory, pedagogy and Māori pedagogy is undertaken. Using the concepts discussed in this review, the language learning activities associated with the FLAX project are analysed to determine their suitability for learning te reo Māori. Further feedback was provided by a sample group following their testing of a selection of activities that were based on text written in te reo Māori. 
 

The analysis suggests the current range of FLAX activities have more benefit to students as tools that allow practice of the learning that has been delivered in face-to-face classroom settings, rather than as a standalone language learning resource. In their present form, the main benefits of the activities predominantly rest in the way they were performed rather than in the activities themselves. Furthermore, commentary from the testing group regarded the activities as more beneficial for practicing sentence structures, grammar and punctuation, rather than actual language learning. The group generally agreed, however, that combining the activities with methods of oral and aural transmission, in te reo Māori, would certainly result in more effective language learning outcomes.

The legitimacy of digital library-based language learning activities lies in designs that promote learner-centred interaction that is consistent with best practice communicative learning theory. When the target language is te reo Māori, it is of the utmost importance that the activities are tailored to embrace a Māori world view in ways that promote the learning rather than the activity or the content.

text: Using a digital library as a Māori language learning resource: Issues and possibilities The development of electronic language learning resources, founded on digital library technology, is a capability that, to date, is largely unrealised. The Flexible Language Acquisition (FLAX) project is a digital library initiative at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. The current FLAX activities provide practice for students who are learning English as an additional language. The prospect of extending this resource to include te reo Māori is as exciting as it is groundbreaking. The outcomes of this research inform the issues and possibilities involved in creating such resources.

The World Wide Web has allowed an everyday access to the Internet, but finding and retrieving pertinent information is often a convoluted and time-consuming exercise. The normal outcome is that users are unable to take full advantage of the available resources. Digital libraries have an unprecedented power in terms of organising and storing vast amounts of information and, with built-in retrieval functionality, serve as ideal repositories. The ability to focus the information within these repositories is extremely significant because there is no longer the chaff that normally results from Internet searches. Purposeful learning activities can be presented exploiting an assortment of media and drawing on stored information that can be assembled in a range of formats. Such capacity, flexibility and diversity is normally only encountered at traditional, physical libraries.

The research includes an overview of digital libraries and some of the language learning resources that are currently available on the Internet. Since the target language is te reo Māori, a critical review on the features of kaupapa Māori theory, pedagogy and Māori pedagogy is undertaken. Using the concepts discussed in this review, the language learning activities associated with the FLAX project are analysed to determine their suitability for learning te reo Māori. Further feedback was provided by a sample group following their testing of a selection of activities that were based on text written in te reo Māori. 
 

The analysis suggests the current range of FLAX activities have more benefit to students as tools that allow practice of the learning that has been delivered in face-to-face classroom settings, rather than as a standalone language learning resource. In their present form, the main benefits of the activities predominantly rest in the way they were performed rather than in the activities themselves. Furthermore, commentary from the testing group regarded the activities as more beneficial for practicing sentence structures, grammar and punctuation, rather than actual language learning. The group generally agreed, however, that combining the activities with methods of oral and aural transmission, in te reo Māori, would certainly result in more effective language learning outcomes.

The legitimacy of digital library-based language learning activities lies in designs that promote learner-centred interaction that is consistent with best practice communicative learning theory. When the target language is te reo Māori, it is of the utmost importance that the activities are tailored to embrace a Māori world view in ways that promote the learning rather than the activity or the content.

year: 2009