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The location of a long - lost natural wonder in New Zealand has been identify , thanks to an accidentally obtain diary of a 19th century geographer .
The so - calledPink and White Terraceson the shore of Lake Rotomahana on New Zealand ’s North Island used to attract scores of adventurous tourists in the former nineteenth century . The monolithic deposits of silica sediment make by upwelling geothermic hot springs were as large as a metropolis stop and as tall as an 8 - story building . Yet in 1886 , within a single night , amassive eruption of a nearby volcanotransformed the landscape around the lake beyond realisation and wipe out the natural admiration from the Earth ’s Earth’s surface .
The Pink and White Terraces at Lake Rotomahana near Rotorua, New Zealand, circa 1880.
An independent researcher now claims he eff exactly where the terraces lie down . The mystery was solved using a field journal that belong 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 age ]
" There were four eruptions of the Terawera volcano on the night of 24 February 2025 , " said study co - author Rex Bunn , explaining the magnitude of the disaster . " Three separatevolcanic eruptionshappened along a mass tip and that was OK . The bench survived that . But finally a hydrothermal , hot water , volcanic eruption happened and blew up the floor of the lake and that ’s what bury the terrace . "
A Brobdingnagian cloud of fine volcanic ash buried the glowing open of the terraces under a blanket of debris more than 50 foot ( 15 time ) thick . The soma of the lake change and many of the surrounding landmarks , including the terrace , disappeared . Many thought the tourist attractor was destroy by the eruption .
" The government had never surveyed the sphere , so the colonists had no mode of know where [ on the button ] the terraces had been , " Bunn told Live Science . " There was no way of getting GPS coordinate for them so it became a mystery , which continue until today . "
Searching for the terraces
Bunn , an independent research worker , join the quest to find the terraces four year ago after he had larn about work by an international research team in the field . The researchers from New Zealand ’s geologic research institute GNS Science , Waikato University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution , in the U.S. , discoveredpink rocksduring a survey of the lake ’s bottom . They suggested these rose-colored Stone could belong to to the long - lost patio .
" This encourage me to launch a $ 6 million project in 2014 to bring down the lake and retrieve the terraces , " Bunn said . " But later the same year , the grouping of researchers warned me to give up the endeavour as they claim they have find a new dynamic magma chamber , which could trigger an eruption , if I frown the lake . " [ freehanded Blasts : History ’s 10 Most Destructive Volcanoes ]
But in a turn of destiny , Bunn was about to stumble upon a document that would change the direction of the pursuit . While explore for the ripe art for his upcoming e - Holy Writ about the patio , he get across a publication about Hochstetter , which contained hand - draw maps of the area around Lake Rotomahana . The author of that publication , Sascha Nolden , a research librarian at the National Library of New Zealand , was also in self-possession of Hochstetter ’s field of study journal , which he go back a few years originally while make for at the estate have by the geographer ’s descendants in Switzerland .
" Hochstetter was commissioned by theAustro - Hungarian Empirein 1859 to unite the military expedition of SMS Novara to carry out research in the South Seas , " Bunn said . " When they come to New Zealand , the colonial government asked him to undertake survey work on the North Island . He spent many month figure out on the island with his assistants and the survey include the old Lake Rotomahana and the Pink and blank terraces . "
However , the colonial government seems to have never received the documentation . Hochstetter returned to Europe together with his field journal , which check 24 full page of information about Lake Rotamahana and the Pink and White Terraces . The journal happens to be the only accurate scientific record documenting the recede natural wonder .
" I instantly saw the diary curb numerical data , which were compass bearing of various features around the old Lake Rotomahana , " Bunn said . " Most of these old lake features in the journal were destroyed by the 1886 bam , but 10 remained . " [ ' Dear Diary ' : 14 Noteworthy Journal - Keepers ]
In Hochstetter’s steps
From these surviving bearings , Bunn train an algorithm to construct the coordinate of the commonwealth where Hochstetter place upright in 1859 . concord to Bunn , compass aim recorded 150 long time ago demand to be conform for today ’s use , because Earth ’s geomagnetic landing field has changed since the late 1800s . Subsequently , Bunn exchange the information into chromosome mapping formats that could display the location of the terraces onGoogle Mapsand other 21st - one C mapping servicing .
Bunn said he is positive his findings are accurate . But the bench , contrary to data point from former enquiry , do n’t lie at the bottom of the lake . Rather , they are on the shore , covered by 50 pes ( 15 m ) of volcanic deposit . Bunn is in talk with the aboriginal tribes that own the land , and he hopes to make radio detection and ranging and oil production surveys of the region in an endeavour to reclaim a piece of the pinkish and ashen silicate .
" The ash [ that wedge onto the patio ] was only about 150 arcdegree Celsius to 250 point Celsius [ 302 degrees to 482 degrees Fahrenheit ] hot and it would not have ache the terrace , " Bunn said . " The melting point of silicate is between 600 and 1,200 degrees Anders Celsius [ 1,112 arcdegree and 2,192 degree F ] , so the ash would not have spite them and that ’s why I am passably confident that they lie buried under this fine ash . "
The research worker desire the long - fall back curiosity can be dig out and once again exposed to the eyes of the man . Thehot springsthat once produce the terraces no longer exist . But , according to Bunn , other wonders of the creation , such as the repository of ancient Rome and Greece , are also in less - than - perfect consideration and yet sensation - seeking holidaymaker do n’t seem to bear in mind .
The results of the study were write online June 7 in theJournal of the Royal Society of New Zealand .
Original clause onLive Science .
