[Geysers] Geyser report from New Zealand

[Janet Chapple]

Thank you, Ron, for this very interesting history! I, too, visited Lady 
Knox (in 2003). I could not help casting mild aspersions on the soaping 
process after I saw it. For a couple of pictures see:
http://www.yellowstonetreasures.com/rotorua.htm.

It always helps to understand the history of a place, and I apologize 
for not appreciating the whole significance of this unique place.

Janet Chapple
-------

On Dec 19, 2005, at 6:09 PM, Ron Keam wrote:

> 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
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> FAX +64 9 373-7445
> EMail r.keam at auckland.ac.nz
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