page_title: Lake Pupuke
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Pupuke / Geology
caption_attribution_description: Takapuna Reef's exceptional fossil forest was exhumed by coastal coastal erosion when the sea level rose to its current height, following the last Ice Age, 7,200 years ago
context_page_description: Lake Pupuke is a heart-shaped freshwater lake occupying a volcanic crater between the suburbs of Takapuna and Milford on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The heart shape is a result of its formation by the linking of two circular craters - a larger one forming most of the lake and a smaller one forming the arm in the northeast. Separated from the sea by less than 200 m at one point, it has a circumference of about 4.5 km and reaches 57 m in depth. It is popular for recreational activities and the lakefront property around it.
context_section_description: Other similar craters in the Auckland volcanic field were either buried by later eruptions, or breached by erosion as rainwater collected and overflowed the edge of the crater. Lake Pupuke remains a lake because, unlike the other vents, its eruptions produced substantial lava flows; water can thus escape through cracks in the lava reaching under the crater wall, creating a series of freshwater springs along the beaches between Takapuna and Milford. The lava flow at the end of Takapuna Beach enveloped a kauri forest, producing an internationally significant collection of tree moulds, which has been called "New Zealand’s only example of a fossil forest preserved in a lava flow" and which "ranks among the best examples in the world." Some moulds have escaped burial by the boat ramp and car park built on top of the lava, and can be viewed at low tide.
caption: Takapuna Reef's exceptional fossil forest was exhumed by coastal erosion when the sea level rose to its current height, following the last Ice Age, 7,200 years ago
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