New Zealand's Long-Lost Pink and White Terraces May Have Been Found

By Tereza Pultarova, Live Science Contributor | June 27, 2017 06:51am ET

- click for photo -

https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA5My8zOTgvb3JpZ2luYWwvcGluay1hbmQtd2hpdGUtdGVycmFjZXMuanBlZw==

The Pink and White Terraces at Lake Rotomahana near Rotorua, New Zealand, circa 1880.
Credit: General Photographic Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images


The location of a long-lost natural wonder in New Zealand has been identified, thanks to an accidentally found diary of a 19th century geographer.

The so-called Pink and White Terraces on the shores of Lake Rotomahana on New Zealand's North Island used to attract scores of adventurous tourists in the late 19th century. The massive deposits of silica sediment created by upwelling geothermal hot springs were as large as a city block and as tall as an 8-story building. Yet in 1886, within a single night, a massive eruption of a nearby volcano transformed the landscape around the lake beyond recognition and erased the natural wonder from the Earth's surface.

An independent researcher now claims he knows exactly where the terraces lie. The mystery was solved using a field diary that belonged to the German geographer Ferdinand von Hochstetter, which no one knew about until 2011. [10 Historical Treasures That the World Lost in the Past 100 Years]

"There were four eruptions of the Terawera volcano on the night of 10 June 1886," said study co-author Rex Bunn, explaining the magnitude of the disaster. "Three separate volcanic eruptions happened along a mountain peak and that was OK. The terraces survived that. But finally a hydrothermal, hot water, eruption happened and blew up the floor of the lake and that's what buried the terraces."

More:
https://www.livescience.com/59621-long-lost-pink-and-white-terraces-may-be-found.html?utm_source=notification


Some old photos of the terraces:

https://results.searchlock.com/search/?q=Lake+Rotomahana+on+New+Zealand%27s+North+Island&slr=1&tbm=isch&sr=pageredir-google&chnm=store