From there it was back to the eastern side of New Zealand’s Southern Alps to begin some sampling in the drier side of the mountains around the Rakaia Gorge. Hear we met up with George Denton’s glacial mapping field team. Between flying into higher altitude tarns above 1600 m we also spent time coring swamps within the moraine ridges of Late Glacial and Last Glacial Maximum ice advances. This is to provide material for paleoclimate reconstructions using pollen and chironomids as well as dating material for minimal ages for ice recession in the area. The coring at each site was a success but tested the endurance of the field team, the equipment and resulted in some interesting four-wheel drive and off road experiences. | |
Climate
Change Institute |