Geoscience 2023

Field Trips

The GSNZ Organising Committee have arranged a number of great post-conference field trips, please scroll down to see details of the location, dates and cost involved for each of these field trip options.

The organising committee reserves the right to cancel a trip at any time, offering a full refund (of the field trip fee only) or offering the participant the opportunity to change to another available trip.

You can sign up for field trips when registering for the conference, these are additional activities to add to your registration. A link to the online Conference Registration form is available on the Registration page. Please note all Field Trips have a minimum and maximum number of participants required to run the trips. You will be informed if the Field Trip does not reach minimum numbers and offered an alternative Field trip or a full refund.

Options Overview

Date	Field Trip	Cost*
Sunday 12 November	Rockin’ Around Wellington \| The Geology of Te Whanganui-A-Tara (Public Field Trip - click here for more info)	Free

Date	Field Trip	Cost*
Friday 17 November	Tsunamis and Related Geology around Wellington Harbour FULL (waitlist in place)	$80 pp
Friday 17 November	Te Whanganui a Tara Wellington Harbour Seafloor Geology FULL (waitlist in place)	$10 pp
Friday 17 November	New Findings on Active Tectonics in the Central and Southern Wairarapa FULL (waitlist in place)	$70 pp
Friday 17 November	Sedimentation on an Evolving Margin	$55 pp

*All pricing is listed inclusive of GST. Costs exclude conference registration fees. Visit the registration page for registration fees.

Pre-Conference One Day Field Trip: Sunday 12th November

Rockin’ Around Wellington | The Geology of Te Whanganui-A-Tara - More information can be found by clicking this link.

Post-Conference One Day Field Trip: Friday 17th November

FULL (waitlist in place)
Tsunamis and Related Geology around Wellington Harbour
Leaders: Jean Roger & Russ van Dissen, GNS Science
Level of Fitness Required: Maximum walking distance is 1.6 km (return) on flat sandy/gravel track along the shore
Date: 1 day trip, 17th November
Cost: $80 (covers buses and cable car to top of Botanical Gardens - lunch NOT included)

What is more impressive than having a capital city like Wellington sitting above a subduction zone, cut by several major seismic faults, and surrounded by the sea? This field trip, bringing people in well-known sites, will provide the opportunity to the participants to discover the history of earthquakes and tsunamis in Wellington, and also how these natural hazards are monitored (showing real instruments in-situ), for a better preparedness and protection of the population.

Pick up: From Wellington Train Station at 8am
Drop off: At Wellington Train Station at 5pm - drop off at the airport can be arranged at 4:30pm (please contact the leader to arrange this).

Additional Information:

Lunch is NOT included. Please BYO your own packed lunch or you are able to buy sandwiches from TRAX café, Platform 1, at Wellington Station.
Bring rain jacket, warm clothes (it could be windy), shoes for walking on a sandy/gravel track, water bottle for the day, sun screen, camera, snacks, lunch (we may have time to stop for coffee/tea at some points).
Minimum numbers required to run this Field Trip is 12, maximum number of participants is 24.

If you have any questions about this Field Trip, please contact Jean Roger or Russ van Dissen

FULL (waitlist in place)

Te Whanganui a Tara Wellington Harbour Seafloor Geology
Leaders: Scott Nodder & Susi Woelz, NIWA
Date: 1 day trip, 17th November
Cost: $10 (covers snacks and drinks on board the vessel - lunch NOT included)

Meeting Location: Evans Bay Marina Wharf (517 Evans Bay Parade, Hataitai, Wellington 6021)

Timings: Various time planned for the boat trips; 09:00-10:00 (FULL), 11:00-12:00 (FULL), 13:00-14:00 (FULL) and 15:00 - 16:00 (FULL). Followed by an optional ~ 1 hour tour at the NIWA Greta Point site.

The fieldtrip will involve several ~1-hour trips out on NIWA’s research vessel RV Ikatere to look at submarine geological features in Te Whanganui a Tara Wellington Harbour. The vessel will operate NIWA’s multibeam and sub-bottom profiling systems to provide information on the bathymetric and subsurface geology in the harbour, including images of active faults (Wellington and Aotea faults), seafloor freshwater seepage off Petone/Seaview and active current scour in the harbour entrance. The fieldtrip will showcase new shallow water geophysical techniques for characterising marine geological processes.

As an option, participants can visit the NIWA Greta Point site for tours of the High-Performance Computing Facility and the NIWA Invertebrate Collection.

Example of a shallow seismic reflection profile (top) and interpretation (bottom). Image taken from Barnes et al. (2018) New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics (DOI: 10.1080/00288306.2018.1520265).

Additional Information:

Experience of small boats (10-12 m-length) and being on the water would be beneficial. Walk from Evans Bay marina wharf to the NIWA site is an easy 20 minute walk for 1.5 km northwards along Evans Bay Parade.
Bring Water bottle, rain jacket, warm clothing, closed shoes, sunhat and glasses, personal sun screen. NIWA will provide safety equipment (lifejackets, high visibility vests).
Minimum numbers required to run this Field Trip is 12 (3 trips with 4 people each trip), maximum number of participants is 24 (4 trips for 6 people each trip over the day).

If you have any questions about this Field Trip, please contact Scott Nodder or Susi Woelz

FULL (waitlist in place)
New Findings on Active Tectonics in the Central and Southern Wairarapa
Leaders: Nicola Litchfield, Genevieve Coffey (GNS Science), Julian Thomson (Out There Learning).
Level of Fitness Required: Gentle, flat, walking for short distances, but time permitting, you may want to climb the 250 steps to the Cape Palliser Lighthouse!
Date: 1 day trip, 17th November
Cost: $70 (covers transport only - lunch NOT included)

Pick up: From Wellington Railway Station at 8:30am
Drop off: At Wellington Railway Station at 5pm

The Wairarapa is one of the most complex active tectonics areas of Aotearoa and recent work has identified several previously-unrecognised active faults and re-examined and dated tectonically-uplifted marine terraces. After travelling over the impressive Remutaka Range we’ll first visit some of the newly-identified active faults near Carterton and discuss their activity and relationship to other nearby faults as well as implications for seismic hazard. Then we’ll travel to the spectacular south coast and examine Pleistocene and Holocene marine terraces between Lake Ferry and Cape Palliser, discussing the likely source of uplift and implications for vertical land movements.

Additional Information:

Lunch is NOT included. Please BYO lunch and there are café’s near the Wellington Waterfront to buy some beforehand.
The Wairarapa can have a range of weather conditions including strong wind. Please bring water bottle, warm clothes, rain jacket, sun screen, sun hat.
Minimum numbers required to run this Field Trip is 9, maximum number of participants is 25.

If you have any questions about this Field Trip, please contact Nicola Litchfield, Genevieve Coffey, Julian Thomson

20.10.23 UPDATE – this Field Trip has now changed from a two-day Field Trip to one-day Field Trip.

Sedimentation on an Evolving Margin
Leaders: Ben Hines, Cliff Atkins (VUW)
Level of Fitness Required: A moderate level of fitness is required; walking will include 1-to-2-kilometre excursions, with some hills and some rocky shorefaces and stream beds encountered.
Date: 17 November
Cost: $55 (covers transport only - lunch NOT included)

Pick up: Friday 17th November at 7am, from the Kelburn Parade bus stop outside Victoria University, Kelburn Campus
Drop off: Drop off will be at 6-7pm on the evening of Friday the 17th of November. Drop off locations will be Wellington Railway Station, Kelburn Parade at Victoria University, and Wellington Airport by request.

This excursion explores the close linkage between basin tectonism and sedimentation in southeast Wairarapa. We will look at indicators of Cretaceous tectonism on the Gondwana margin, passive margin successions in the post-rift phase, the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, before delving into early stratigraphic indicators of Hikurangi margin subduction initiation and several instances of Neogene syn-tectonic sedimentation. Collectively, these sites tell the story of the evolution of the East Coast Basin, from subduction on the eastern Gondwana margin, to passive margin sedimentation, and the evolution of the modern Hikurangi convergent margin, all while exploring a diverse array of sedimentological features and stratigraphic events.

Additional Information:

Bring boots or sturdy footwear, rain jacket, beanie, sunhat, sunblock, water bottle.
Minimum numbers required to run this Field Trip is 6, maximum number of participants is 20.

If you have any questions about this Field Trip or have an accommodation request, please contact Ben Hines, Cliff Atkins, (VUW)