Memorial Award Recipient - Pedro Doll

Congratulations to Pedro Doll, one of three successful recipients of the Memorial Award this year.

Ruapehu’s recent lava flows: building towards a more resilient Tongariro National park

Pedro Doll – PhD candidate

Te Whare Wānaga o Waitaha – University of Canterbury

Ruapehu -the largest volcano in Aotearoa- has produced a wide diversity of deposits throughout its life. Since the last glacial maximum, big quantities of magma were erupted effusively -in the form of lava flows-, partially filling the valleys and covering the slopes of the volcano. However, precise knowledge on the timing on these effusive eruptions is still lacking. With my research, I aim to provide a detailed history of lava flow eruptions at Ruapehu during the last 20 thousand years. To achieve this, I am using high-resolution dating methods not widely applied for volcanic rocks (surface exposure dating using cosmogenic nuclei and paleomagnetism) as well as analysing LiDAR data of the volcano’s surface. Preliminary results have shown that lava emission happened until at least 3400 years BP on the northern slopes (Whakapapa ski area) and 1400 years BP on the Whangaehu valley. I am currently processing samples to do isotopic analysis in a cosmogenic laboratory in France. This will allow me to obtain more eruption ages and continue improve our understanding of Ruapehu’s behaviour during the last 20 thousand years.

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THE PROJECT TONGARIRO MEMORIAL AWARD WAS ESTABLISHED BY THE SOCIETY IN MEMORY OF KEITH MAURICE BLUMHARDT, WILLIAM EDWARD COOPER, DOUGLAS NEAL MCKENZIE, DEREK IAN WHITE AND MARIE PAULINE WILLIAMS, WHO DIED ON MT RUAPEHU WHILE TESTING HELICOPTER RESCUE EQUIPMENT ON 9 DECEMBER 1982.

The award is open to any applicant for study—for fauna, flora, geology, volcanology, meteorology, natural and human history of Tongariro National Park and World Heritage Site.