Ngatamariki Fieldwork

 I drafted this just after I got back from the field with the thought of brushing it up and posting it.   As it turns out I got lazy/forgetful.   I include it as a record of that fieldwork (date of occurrence Mar 18-29):

I’ve spent the last two weeks doing the first bit of fieldwork with another master’s student, Cam Asher.   I went to Ngatamariki geothermal field to do a soil gas survey and to collect gas samples for isotopic analysis.  He’s working on nitrogen isotopic signatures in lichen—hopefully associated with thermal activity. Ngatamariki is approximately 17 km north of Taupo.   It’s a site of a nearly blind geothermal system (there are only 3 areas of geothermal activity and it’s fairly minimal at that), but there is water well over 100° C at depth.   Mighty River Power Company is just starting to put in a geothermal power plant, so it seemed like a good time to grab baseline flux before the plant goes on-line.

            What Ngatamariki also has is Himalayan Blackberry.   The Brits (and Scotts in the case of gorse) found a land with literally no prickly plants (not true as it turns out there’s matagori and bush lawyer) and decided in their infinite wisdom that the situation should change.  As such I spent heaps of time fighting through up to chest high blackberry (BAD) in addition to the native-ish bush and pine forest (tree ferns and such.  Better, though you still really couldn’t see).   The other chunk of my survey was in the middle of a recently logged field.   The slash had been removed so what was left was a dusty plain with no shade.  Needless to say this wasn’t the most enjoyable field site ever.  The data doesn’t look super promising (not really site nor sound of CH₄, which is what I was looking for) but hopefully something will show up in the isotope data.  That being said the springs were pretty (when you found them) and the hydrothermal eruption crater was pretty cool (photos below).    It was a pretty steep learning curve and I still have some things to sort out with my equipment, but it’s off to CHCH for Easter and a break, which I should spend in the mountains!   The rest can wait for just a bit.

My slash field

The hydrothermal eruption crater

Cool algae at the outlet to the crater

One of the springs hidden in the bush

Hindsight being what it is, the data has some true potential.   That being said I don’t view the bush bashing as super pleasant—that’ll take a touch more time.