About NZ geology

Like GSNZ branches, online sources about NZ geology are many but scattered. Some are aimed at researchers, some at the general public, others at primary, secondary or tertiary students. This page is an attempt to start to provide a source list of educational and informational material (see also the general links page). For now these are sorted by institution but hopefully the website editor will provide some more imaginative formatting in due course.

 

GNS Science GNS Science is a government-owned research institute and is the best place to get geological maps and images. The website is rather large, these links will help navigate to the good stuff. - GNS for kids: climate change, asteroid impacts, earthquakes, volcano cams, natural hazards, careers, educational books, free downloads - searchable, browsable photolibrary of images. Watermarked, but you can arrange to buy - various thematic webmaps, also the new 1:250 000 scale QMAP series - link to 6MB colour pdf of New Zealand's geological basement: print at A3 or A4

Te Ara Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, contains many well-illustrated articles on New Zealand earth science, mainly written for the non-specialist. The following list contains links to individual articles: General geology - Outline of New Zealand geology - Sea floor geology - Charting the sea floor - Engineering on the sea floor - Gemstones - Geological exploration of New Zealand - Magnetic field - Meteorites - Rocks and minerals named in New Zealand Past life - Collections of plants and animals - Evolution of plants and animals - Extinctions - Fossils Landscapes and geomorphology - Landscapes - overview - Perceptions of the landscape - Geomorphology - a history - Dune lands - Glaciers and glaciation - Lakes - Limestone country - Mountains - Nearshore Islands - Rivers - Waterfalls - Wetlands Soil science - Soils - Soil Investigations Maori traditions and archaeology - Kohatu - Maori use of stone - Kaitiakitanga - guardianship & conservation - Paptuanuku - the land - Pounamu - jade or greenstone - Te ao marama - the natural world - When was New Zealand first settled? - Whenua - how the land was shaped Natural hazards - Natural hazards - overview - Active faults - Coastal erosion - Earthquakes - Historic earthquakes - Floods - Landslides - Tsunamis - Volcanoes - Historic volcanic activity Mining & mineral resources - Mining and underground resources - Building stone - Coal and coal mining - Gold and gold mining - Iron and steel - Kauri gum & gum digging - Marine minerals - Oil and gas - Radioactive minerals - Rock, limestone and clay - Salt Hot springs and geothermal energy - Geothermal energy - Hot springs, mud pools and geysers - Life in hot springs - Thermal pools and spas Conservation - Conservation - a history - National Parks - Protected areas Outdoor recreation - Caving - Mountaineering - Tramping - Search & rescue - Walking tracks Thanks to Simon Nathan, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, for these links

 

Royal Society of New Zealand RSNZ is the umbrella scientific society in the country. RSNZ produces alpha and gamma series publications and other learning resources, most of which can be downloaded as pdf files, and some of which are on geological topics. RSNZ also has a page specifically for secondary school students. Strictly for specialists, the New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics publishes original research papers on all aspects of the earth sciences relevant to New Zealand, the Pacific, and Antarctica back issues.

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