[Geysers] Geyser report from New Zealand

[Ron Keam]

I feel I should add a comment about Lady Knox geyser at Waiotapu.

The hot spring which was turned into Lady Knox geyser is a natural 
feature.  Waiotapu was the site of (I think) the first open prison in 
New Zealand and the prisoners had the task (from about 1900) of 
planting pine trees on the pumice plateau that extends north and east 
of Lake Taupo.  This plateau at that time had a covering largely of 
teatree - a smallish native scrub.  It is not that the area was 
sterile and could not support other vegetation, but the fact (as we 
now know) that a very large rhyolite eruption had covered the area 
with pyroclastics - really an unwelded ignimbrite - about A.D. 200, 
and vegetation was very slow to recolonise this.  Of course the 
dating of the event was not accomplished until techniques using 
radio-carbon (C14) were developed in the early nineteen fifties.  At 
date 1900 all that was known was that everywhere in the region 
mentioned there were the signs of some prehistoric catastrophe having 
occurred, with huge carbonised logs of mature trees visible embedded 
in the thick pumiceous cover.  Anyway the buried soils were there and 
available for the establishment and nourishment of an exotic forest, 
and the pine plantations that have resulted would do Yellowstone 
National Park proud, and they do form the basis of one of New 
Zealand's productive industries.  Getting back to the prisoners, I 
should say that the open prison was quite popular with the inmates. 
They had significant freedom to move around and were supervised by 
one gaoler, Scanlan by name, and no doubt some assistants.  The 
prisoners evidently used the geothermal features for their ablutions 
and for cleaning their laundry.  In the course of these uses they 
discovered that their soap would cause this particular feature to 
erupt - perhaps the first washing machine, with the laundry being 
automatically spread out onto the teatree to dry??
The idea occurred to someone that the spring should have an iron pipe 
inserted into the surface pool, and this was supported by blocks of 
sinter and rhyolite cemented into place. This resulted in the induced 
eruptions being in the form of a vertical column - perhaps 30 metres 
high at the start of an eruption.
The New Zealand Vice-Regal family visited Waiotapu in 1906 and Lady 
Constance Knox, the Governor's daughter, was given the honour of 
christening the geyser, and it was named the Northland geyser after 
her own brother.  However, the official name did not stick, and her 
own name became informally associated with the feature, and this has 
always been the accepted one.
Recently, Environment Waikato, the regional body responsible for the 
Waikato Region, has been considering the protection of natural 
geothermal features of significance within that region.  This 
includes the Waiotapu area.  We (and I say 'we' because I have 
personallty been involved with this) realised that certain features 
of historical interest should be protected, and, even though some of 
these have been modified, something like Lady Knox geyser qualifies 
as being worthy of protection in its now historically modified form.
Lady Knox geyser is a standard feature of the tourist visit to 
Waiotapu, and the eruption is quite spectacular and entertains as 
many as three hundred visitors at a time when it is soaped at (I 
think) 1015 each morning.
So, please do not regard Lady Knox geyser as a 'fake'.  It is worth 
the trouble of visiting, and some of the guides' commentaries, given 
to the assembled group when soaping is about to take place, are 
entertaining, factual, and informative.

Ron Keam

>In a message dated 12/17/2005 5:12:10 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
>fanandmortar at hotmail.com writes:
>
>Oh, and how could I forget Wai-O-Tapu.
>
>We had the Lady Knox experience.  Needless to say, a soaped eruption of a
>modified geyser that clearly erupts out of a pipe is not terribly
>satisfying.  Oh, and the eruption occurred right on time.
>
>
>Oh, but isn't the initial oozy-gooey froth flowing down the side of 
>the cone one of the most intriguing of sights? Oh, the excitement it 
>generates! (Reminders of Steamboat Hot Springs -- ahem.)
>
>Scott
>
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Ron Keam
The Physics Department
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92-019
Auckland
New Zealand
Phone +64 9 373-7599 extension 87931
FAX +64 9 373-7445
EMail r.keam at auckland.ac.nz
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