There are few places left on earth
like Westland National Park where such a complete cross-section of
landscapes from
the tops of the highest mountains right down to the sea is still in a
near
wilderness state.
Such a range of habitats and
altitude variation makes an impressive sanctuary for New Zealand's
diminishing
native flora and fauna. Outstanding scenery and the waters of the lake
are so
calm as to fully reflect all the snow-clad mountains and rainforest.
New Zealand is an old land with a
young landscape - a paradox that is nowhere truer than in this region.
Amongst the oldest sedimentary
rocks are the greywackes which outcrop near Lake Mapourika and in the
Omoeroa
Range; these probably date from the early Palaeozoic era, more than 500
million
years ago. Although laid down as sediments under the sea, they were
derived by
erosion of neighbouring land. This was the ancient continent of
Gondwanaland; a
single landmass made up of the present continents of Australia,
Antarctica,
South America, Africa, and India.
The Southern Alps
The Southern Alps are composed of
schist and greywackes laid down as sediments mostly during the Permian
and
Triassic periods, but they were thrust up into high mountains only
during the
last 5 million years and are thereby one of the youngest large mountain
ranges
in the world. Most of the surface features of the landscape, especially
the
mountain cirques and valleys and the lowland moraines and lakes, were
moulded
during the last major advance of the glaciers which ended about 14000
years ago.
Westland National Park safeguards
for all time a place where nature can carry on her great dramas
uninterrupted by
man's heavy hand, where scientists can unravel the evolution of the
landforms
and plant and animal life, and where the wider public can enter freely
to find
inspiration and enjoyment in a wild and undisturbed natural world. |
