Flying the flag in the darkest caves

Posted: Fri, 27 Jan 2017

Dr Adam Hartland from the University of Waikato's department of Science and Engineering is using tiny concentrations of metals found in speleotherms and lake sediments to help shed light on changes in the terrestrial carbon cycle. These metals will provide Dr Hartland and his team, which includes PhD student Andrew Pearson and researchers from GNS and the University of Melbourne, with valuable information on the amount and composition of the organic carbon dissolved in lake and underground waters in our past.

This research aims to improve our understanding of the factors that play a role in the release of such carbon from soil, which in turn will help us to understand the role climate plays on dissolved organic carbon export on historic and pre-historic timescales. 

Below is a photo collection of Adam and Andy sourcing samples for analysis and flying the Marsden Fund flag during field trips around and under New Zealand. This work is funded by a Marsden Fund Fast-Start grant (contract UOW1403).

Lake Te Anau at the foot of the Luxmore Range

Andy Pearson enjoys the views of the Luxmore Range from the helicopter

Kitting up before entering Luxmore Cave

Light shines through the entrance shaft of Luxmore Cave

A grotto with stalagmites and stalactites. The plastic bottle collects water for geochemical analysis

A drip logger and a thermistor count the drops that build the cave formations and record temperature

A resin sampler to probe the fluids within the cave and a note to casual passers-by

Adam Hartland in a phreatic tube, a cave passage created by water flowing underground in Hodge Creek Cave

"That's not a chicken!" Andy Pearson examines Moa remains in Hodge Creek Cave

Adam Hartland sampling the water of a pool in Hodge Creek Cave

Processing drill cores of the speleothem deposits in Nettlebed Cave