In June 2011, a part of the White Terraces was also rediscovered in by the team. In February 2011, while mapping the floor of Lake Rotomahana, a team including researchers from GNS Science (see notes 1), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and Waikato University were mapping the lake floor when they discovered part of the Pink Terraces, found the lowest two tiers of the terraces at 60 meters (200 feet) deep. Recently lost natural wonders: The White Terraces (1887) by Charles Blomfield.įast forward to 2011. After some years this crater filled with water to form a new Lake Rotomahana, 30-40 meters (100-130 feet) higher, ten times larger and deeper than the old lake. The Pink and White terraces also have been lost.Īfter the eruption, a crater over 100 meters (328 feet) deep encompassed the former site of the terraces. Up to 150 people, mostly Māori, were killed, and many settlements were destroyed or buried by the eruption. It was one of New Zealand’s largest historic eruptions and the deadliest eruption in New Zealand since the arrival of Europeans. Unfortunately, on June 10, 1886, Mount Tarawera erupted. The terraces were at the Lake Rotomahana shore, and ~1200 meters apart. Their Māori names were even more beautiful: Te Otukapuarangi (“The fountain of the clouded sky”) for the Pink Terrace and Te Tarata (“the tattooed rock”) for the White Terrace. Once the largest silica sinter deposits on earth, The Pink Terrace and the White Terrace were natural wonders of northern New Zealand.

Recently lost natural wonders: The Pink Terraces by Charles Blomfield (5 January 1848–15 March 1926), the New Zealand decorator, artist, and music teacher.

The lost wonders of mzark