title: Nutrient budget and water balance for Lake Ngaroto

authors: Beaton, Rowena

subjects: Lake Ngaroto

abstract: The objectives of the present study were to provide an indication of tributary nutrient and sediment levels, and the lake water quality for Lake Ngaroto over a period of summer sampling from December 2006 to February 2007.  The measurements were designed to provide a foundation for a comprehensive water balance and nutrient load assessment for the lake in a future study, and to ultimately support informed decision making related to lake management.

text: Nutrient budget and water balance for Lake Ngaroto The objectives of the present study were to provide an indication of tributary nutrient and sediment levels, and the lake water quality for Lake Ngaroto over a period of summer sampling from December 2006 to February 2007.  The measurements were designed to provide a foundation for a comprehensive water balance and nutrient load assessment for the lake in a future study, and to ultimately support informed decision making related to lake management.

year: 2007-06

title: Cenozoic temperate and sub-tropical carbonate sedimentation on an oceanic volcano – Chatham Islands, New Zealand

authors: James, Noel P.

subjects: Bryozoans

abstract: The Chatham Islands, at the eastern end of the Chatham Rise in the South-west Pacific, are the emergent part of a Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic stratovolcano complex that is variably covered with limestones and fossiliferous tuffs. Most of these deposits accumulated in relatively shallow, high-energy, tide-influenced palaeoenvironments with deposition punctuated by periods of deeper-water pelagic accumulation. Carbonate components in these neritic deposits are biogenic and dominated by molluscs and bryozoans – a heterozoan assemblage. The widespread Middle to Late Eocene Matanginui Limestone contains local photozoan elements such as large benthonic foraminifera (especially Asterocyclina) and calcareous green algae, reflecting the general Palaeogene sub-tropical oceanographic setting. More localized Late Eocene to Oligocene deposits (Te One Limestone) as well as Pliocene carbonates (Onoua Limestone) are, however, wholly heterozoan and confirm a generally cooler-water oceanographic setting, similar to today. Early sea floor diagenesis is interpreted to have removed most aragonite components (infaunal bivalves and epifaunal gastropods). Lack of aragonite resulted in the absence of intergranular calcite cementation during subaerial exposure, such that most carbonates are friable or unlithified. Cementation is, however, present at nodular hardground–firmground caps to metre-scale cycles. Such cements are microcrystalline or micrometre-thick isopachous circumgranular rinds with insufficient definitive attributes to pinpoint their environment of formation. The overall palaeoenvironment of deposition is interpreted as mesotrophic, resulting in part from upwelling about the Chatham volcanic massif and in part from nutrient element delivery from the adjacent volcanic terrane and coeval volcanism. Biotic diversity in tuffs is two to three times that in limestones, supporting the notion of especially high nutrient availability during periods of volcanism. These mid-latitude deposits are strikingly different from their low-latitude, tropical, photozoan counterparts in the volcanic island–coral reef ecosystem. Ground water seepage and fluvial runoff attenuate coral growth and promote microbial carbonate precipitation in these warm-water settings. In contrast, nutrients from the same sources feed the system in the Chatham Islands cool-water setting, promoting active heterozoan carbonate sedimentation.

text: Cenozoic temperate and sub-tropical carbonate sedimentation on an oceanic volcano – Chatham Islands, New Zealand The Chatham Islands, at the eastern end of the Chatham Rise in the South-west Pacific, are the emergent part of a Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic stratovolcano complex that is variably covered with limestones and fossiliferous tuffs. Most of these deposits accumulated in relatively shallow, high-energy, tide-influenced palaeoenvironments with deposition punctuated by periods of deeper-water pelagic accumulation. Carbonate components in these neritic deposits are biogenic and dominated by molluscs and bryozoans – a heterozoan assemblage. The widespread Middle to Late Eocene Matanginui Limestone contains local photozoan elements such as large benthonic foraminifera (especially Asterocyclina) and calcareous green algae, reflecting the general Palaeogene sub-tropical oceanographic setting. More localized Late Eocene to Oligocene deposits (Te One Limestone) as well as Pliocene carbonates (Onoua Limestone) are, however, wholly heterozoan and confirm a generally cooler-water oceanographic setting, similar to today. Early sea floor diagenesis is interpreted to have removed most aragonite components (infaunal bivalves and epifaunal gastropods). Lack of aragonite resulted in the absence of intergranular calcite cementation during subaerial exposure, such that most carbonates are friable or unlithified. Cementation is, however, present at nodular hardground–firmground caps to metre-scale cycles. Such cements are microcrystalline or micrometre-thick isopachous circumgranular rinds with insufficient definitive attributes to pinpoint their environment of formation. The overall palaeoenvironment of deposition is interpreted as mesotrophic, resulting in part from upwelling about the Chatham volcanic massif and in part from nutrient element delivery from the adjacent volcanic terrane and coeval volcanism. Biotic diversity in tuffs is two to three times that in limestones, supporting the notion of especially high nutrient availability during periods of volcanism. These mid-latitude deposits are strikingly different from their low-latitude, tropical, photozoan counterparts in the volcanic island–coral reef ecosystem. Ground water seepage and fluvial runoff attenuate coral growth and promote microbial carbonate precipitation in these warm-water settings. In contrast, nutrients from the same sources feed the system in the Chatham Islands cool-water setting, promoting active heterozoan carbonate sedimentation.

year: 2010

title: Ngā Pakanga mō Wāhi Tapu: Battles over sacred places

authors: Joseph, Robert

abstract: Wāhi tapu are the sacred places of Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. All cultures have sacred sites such as cemeteries, significant battlefields, and places of spiritual significance. Standout examples internationally include the ‘Weeping Wall’ in the Holy Land, Stonehenge in Britain, Maraeātea in the Pacific, and Intihuatana at Macchu Picchu in Peru. But unlike these sites, wāhi tapu are rarely a visible structure but rather a site or area within the landscape with values so significant that restrictions are warranted. In law, wāhi tapu are defined as a ‘place of special significance according to tikanga Māori’
 and ‘a place sacred to Māori in the traditional, spiritual, religious, ritual, or mythological sense’.
As the aphorism above emphasises, Māori historically were willing to die for land (and for women of course!), and wāhi tapu are the most sacred of places. Many battles have been fought over actual or proposed transgressions of their sacredness. In earlier years, blood was shed and men did die; today battles tend to occur in the Environment Court, but are just as passionate. Recent decades have seen conflicts where wāhi tapu were threatened by new highways, railroads, airports, prisons, residential and commercial developments, wind farms, power stations and waste dumps.
In this chapter, I discuss a number of the battles that have been fought over the development or preservation of wāhi tapu from first European contact up until the present time. I highlight the growing legal recognition of tikanga Māori in relation to these sacred landscapes, and conclude with a proposed pragmatic solution for all New Zealanders when negotiating developments over wāhi tapu. Having a
background in law and tribal affiliations, I discuss these tensions from both legal and kaupapa Māori perspectives.

text: Ngā Pakanga mō Wāhi Tapu: Battles over sacred places Wāhi tapu are the sacred places of Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. All cultures have sacred sites such as cemeteries, significant battlefields, and places of spiritual significance. Standout examples internationally include the ‘Weeping Wall’ in the Holy Land, Stonehenge in Britain, Maraeātea in the Pacific, and Intihuatana at Macchu Picchu in Peru. But unlike these sites, wāhi tapu are rarely a visible structure but rather a site or area within the landscape with values so significant that restrictions are warranted. In law, wāhi tapu are defined as a ‘place of special significance according to tikanga Māori’
 and ‘a place sacred to Māori in the traditional, spiritual, religious, ritual, or mythological sense’.
As the aphorism above emphasises, Māori historically were willing to die for land (and for women of course!), and wāhi tapu are the most sacred of places. Many battles have been fought over actual or proposed transgressions of their sacredness. In earlier years, blood was shed and men did die; today battles tend to occur in the Environment Court, but are just as passionate. Recent decades have seen conflicts where wāhi tapu were threatened by new highways, railroads, airports, prisons, residential and commercial developments, wind farms, power stations and waste dumps.
In this chapter, I discuss a number of the battles that have been fought over the development or preservation of wāhi tapu from first European contact up until the present time. I highlight the growing legal recognition of tikanga Māori in relation to these sacred landscapes, and conclude with a proposed pragmatic solution for all New Zealanders when negotiating developments over wāhi tapu. Having a
background in law and tribal affiliations, I discuss these tensions from both legal and kaupapa Māori perspectives.

year: 2011