Te Awaiti scientific reserve - FGVJ+X8 Te Awaiti scientific reserve

Geological Features The west Waiarapa coast is the result of several phases of orogeny (mountain building) that have occurred in New Zealand. The offshore subduction zone of the Hikurangi trench has ensured a complex anticline and syncline structure of the coastal and inlands hills. These hills are heavily faulted and folded with often vast blocks of land vertically displaced or sitting oblique to the fault that caused the uplift. The hill country West of Tora is mid-triassic sediment that 235 to 195 millions years before present (mybp) in age covered by mid Pliocene(5 mybp) muddy and sandy sediment, interbedded with thin argillaceous limestone. The areas westward movement of the plate boundary started around Miocene 22.5 to 5 mybp and is associated with the last and current orogenic sequence (in Kaikoura Orogeny). These hills and slopes are prone to gully erosion. The uplifted beach platforms have alluvial fans forming on them. The uplift continues along this coast at a rate of 1 to 2.6 mm per year Manuwera Point shows the complex crushing and folding deformation that has occurred Pliocene - Pleistocene and uplift of these sediments. Look for the rocks shown in these photos, here you can see the sequence of breaking, crushing and uplift. Manuwera Point has being uplifted, eroded, folded and faulted, rapidly uplifted again and had the sea level drop at the end of the last ice age exposing the point. These are the forces that shape this coast and point. Remember rocks start their life horizontally and get folded , faulted and broken by the vast tectonic forces into the different shapes and angles that we see at this point today. This coast and New Zealand as a whole is not a static sitting in the SW Pacific Ocean. New Zealand is a dynamic frontline of a subduction zone with all it associated geological wonders. Manuwera Point Reserve you may also find the New Zealand Fur Seals that come here to rest. Seals can be usually found from May to October along this coast. Always respect the seals, stay at least 2 meters away from them and make sure they have an exit point to the sea. Seals can be dangerous!

A spot where you can find yourself in peace and harmony with heart and soul. Please don’t leave your rubbish there. Saw some people left there rubbish behind. Be a tidy explorer.