Nice Day for a Walk!

Friday, November 7th, 2014

 

 

 

 

Well, another first for me today.  Tim Little joined the group in Whataroa yesterday.  He is a structural geologist from the University of Victoria in Wellington.  The small community of Franz Josef had contacted Tim asking is he could lead a "tramp" up to the town's local glacier.  Tim's experience in the area goes back about 15 years when he was employed to map the Franz Josef valley in which the glacier resides, so he would be the perfect person to lead such a trip.  Last night Tim was telling us about this and asked a few of the other geologist in the drilling program to go along for back up and of course I jumped at the opportunity given I have never seen a glacier up close.  We left Whataroa at approximately 10:15 a.m. and arrived in the glacier parking lot around 11:15 just in time to see about 40 kids pour out of 2 or 3 vans.  The local community had been advertising Tim's walk to the glacier and was very well received.  He began with a quick introduction of himself and the 4 other geologist that had joined him from the drilling project which included myself.  The walk typically takes 1.5 hours, but with a group of 40 or so kids plus numerous adults including tour guides and two businessmen in suit and jackets, we ended up doing the walk in 3 hours.  Tim's knowledge of the area was quite evident right from the beginning.  The walls of the valley were almost vertical and comprised of schist and grey wackestone as we got closer to the glacier.  The vertical foliations and polished walls were signed of the Australian and Pacific continents colliding at the Alpine fault and also of the history of the glaciers progressive and regressive movements over the past 18,000 yrs.  Tim explained the history of the area in great detail but at a level the children from the local school could perfectly understand but at the same time in a way that left the adults scratching their heads.  At one point Tim made the statement of how 6,000 yrs. was quite young for a specific feature which left many adults with their jaws open.  We forget sometimes as geologist that our  timescale differs greatly from the general public.  When we talk about in the near past we are referring to the past couple million years, and when we talk about the past few thousands of years, that just seems like yesterday!  Our walk continued toward the glacier with an occasional stop with an explanation of why a certain rock appeared the way it does or what there are white and dark stripes up and down the faces or why are the rocks so smooth.  I found myself in full tourist mode, awing at the scenery.  There were waterfalls cascading down each side of the valley as we walked along the river bed.  The last part of the walk was quite a bit more inclined as we were climbing relatively recent meringue deposits and once we reached the top the glacier revealed itself.  I stood about 220 m from the edge and could see the water pouring out of the mouth of the ice cave like I had seen so many times on PBS back home.   The children and adults had a whole new appreciation for what they were looking at once we got  to the end of the trail.  This made me think of our own outreach program at OU and how THIS is what it should be, geology in their own back yards.  This was the end of the tramp.  The teachers tried to round up all the kids and take the typical field trip photo and then they were racing off back down the trail we had just come.  Waiting back in the parking lot was a kiwi tradition of  a "sausage sizzle".  We made our way back to the car and headed back to Whataroa were the drilling of the Alpine Fault was about to get back underway.  Tonight the drilling should commence and I will be on a 3p.m. to 11p.m. shift, which I am quite happy about.  It will allow for  me to complete my field work and take samples as needed in the morning. 

As the Kiwis say

Cheers!