The Geology of Waitangi, Chatham Island

Hamish Campbell explores the coastal rocks beside Hotel Chatham, Chatham Island, New Zealand.
These rocks are rich in many fossil species that inhabited the slopes of a small submarine volcano centred on nearby Tikitiki Hill. Overlying the volcanic sediments is another much younger layer that you can see on the beach - this time from the Oruanui eruption of Taupo Volcano, 25,500 years ago.
SIGN UP for Out There Learning news, articles and updates: julianthomson.substack.com/
Keen to massively BOOST YOUR SCIENCE COMMUNICATION IMPACT? More info here: courses.outtherelearning.co.n...
Visiting schools to talk about your science? This is how to TURN INFORMATION INTO INSPIRATION! courses.outtherelearning.co.n...
This video was kindly funded by the Chatham Island Museum chathamislandsmuseum.nz/
With thanks to Kat Holt for the drone video.

[@musicman53]

You tell an awesomely interesting science story Hamish! I'm your old neighbour from across the road in Ngaio 14 years ago, and I still remember your cool explanation of the uplift layers out at Wellington Heads!

[@PS-Straya_M8]

Thank you for this video! As an expat kiwi living in Australia I really appreciate all these videos about our beautiful Aotearoa 😁

[@OutThereLearning]

That's great, thanks for your comment

[@user-mg2ip8cr8z]

the Chattam islands are not part of Aotearoa , which is the NZ mainland & the homeland of Māori . Rekohu -
Chattam islands is the homeland of Moriori , who are a different Polynesian people than Māori .

[@chrissscottt]

Fascinating.

[@mrquackadoodlemoo]

The way the man says "perhaps the volcano's off..to the west!" is one of the most genuine wholesome sounding things I've ever heard.
He just sounds so happy.

[@OutThereLearning]

🙂

[@KiwiShellNZ1]

Another great video! Thanks so much.

[@OutThereLearning]

Cheers!

[@rachelanderson2943]

Wonderful to be able to reminisce about hearing all this first hand from Hamish while standing on Tikitiki Hill in 2022.

[@OutThereLearning]

Nice!

[@ianh2674]

So interesting and you explain all in simple language.

[@OutThereLearning]

Thanks!

[@kiwidonkeyk1656]

Fascinating and great to get back to the field geology content of NZ.

[@OutThereLearning]

Thanks!

[@sixthsenseamelia4695]

I would love to visit Tikitiki volcano & look around for hours. And days. Such a beautiful island.

[@OutThereLearning]

Maybe one day...?

[@BLUEZz73]

Interesting stuff👏 A pretty little place too✌

[@silenttramping]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@OutThereLearning]

Cheers!

[@complimentary_voucher]

We love your wee bits of info, sometimes attenuated factoids are the best way to learn something since it makes you put the other random stuff you know together with them. Haven't seen any obvious Taupo ash in Dunedin but I thought a teeny bit might have made it here. Suppose you'd have to ID the individual units to tease out which was local and what wasn't. Wish you could hire a geologist for a day and make them explain each weird local feature!

[@stewatparkpark2933]

The wind was blowing the wrong way on the day .

[@fredq6118]

That was an incredibly interesting lesson. Thank you so much for articulating and structuring this story so masterfully.

[@OutThereLearning]

And that was a very kind comment! Thank you

[@edwardbishop1176]

Hi Hamish cheers from Phuket. John Bishop

[@anthonyjackson3907]

8 -10 inches over 500 miles away , that's a lot of dirt .

[@OutThereLearning]

Indeed!

[@CharlesSmith-zt7vt]

It feels incredibly recent really, and what an absolutely catastrophic event it must have been! Here's hoping that Taupō holds off on the next eruption for a while yet.

[@tw716]

Great video ❤❤❤

[@OutThereLearning]

Thanks!

[@HotelPapa100]

You are quite optimistic to assume that a few ten million years haven't changed the inclination of the layered rock. ;-)

[@OutThereLearning]

That is an excellent point. The Chatham Islands have been remarkably stable, only slowly emerging from the sea over millions of years with little tilting. Similar age rocks in mainland New Zealand (at the plate boundary) are highly deformed.

[@outthere9370]

Excellent video. So this rock sediment came from where? Its not volcanic but has been eroded from where? Sounds like this volcano has "burst" through this layer?

[@locke6531]

👍

[@donbrashsux]

Chathams islands looks like a cold place

[@OutThereLearning]

Can be quite windswept!

[@bazza945]

But it has two mushroom seasons per year. I lived there in 1968.

[@user-mg2ip8cr8z]

Its actually Waiteke not Waitangi , there's a video on u tube titled Chattam island filmed for the first time from1947 and they still used Waiteke then .Although Maori changed the name in the 1800s people must have still used the Moriori Waiteke up till 1947 at some stage between then and now it became only the Māori Waitangi .

[@OutThereLearning]

Thanks for your comment

[@stewatparkpark2933]

How long has the gorse been there ?

[@OutThereLearning]

Probably since early European settlement, mid 19th C

[@shortaybrown]

I want a box of the marine sediments with 50 million year old fossils.
How much is it a kilogram? Can I buy 3 kilograms? Do you ship to America?
That’s so interesting! I would have liked to hear how the underwater volcano rose so high.

[@kiwidonkeyk1656]

What will you do with it?

[@dba750]

I live in Canterbury, New Zealand, and i wish for cool nights and days for the next 6 months. Or swap houses with someone in the northern hemisphere who like desert conditions permanently, I've got the perfect house swap with me

[@simongregory3114]

It was a warm evening last night when you wrote this, but we've only had about 3 or so of them this spring or summer. Cool nights nearly always, and cool days quite frequently are what we have! Where in Canterbury do you experience permanent desert conditions? Sounds implausible to me, a central CHCH dweller.