Abstract
The grandest geotourism attractions in the southern hemisphere, in the
nineteenth century were the siliceous Pink and White Terraces, the lost
New Zealand Eighth Wonder of the World. In 1886, the Tarawera eruption
buried the terraces. In the absence of a government survey or evidence
of their locations; public debate over their survival ensued until the
1940s. Recently, a unique survey was uncovered and led researchers at
last to the Terrace locations. Early colonial visitors were told by
traditional landowners, that the major White Terrace spring erupted in
strong easterly winds. Having researched the Pink and White Terraces for
some years, this 1859 report puzzled me, as it did Ferdinand Hochstetter
to whom the first report was made in 1859. From previous studies in
automotive crankcase ventilation, I could see a potential causal pathway
for these east-wind spring eruptions. After examining the topography of
the White Terrace spring, embankment and apron: I suggest the puzzling
eruptions were a product of three phenomenae: the Venturi and Coandă
effects, with Bernoulli’s principle. This paper presents the evidence
for the presence of Venturi and Coandă effects at the Lake Rotomahana
Basin. More importantly, it discusses how these effects contributed to
postulated spring eruptions during the 1886 eruptions; which created so
far unexplained water ponding around the Pink, Black and White Terrace
locations. These surface waters contribute to the new paradigm for the
Rotomahana Basin during the 1886 eruptions; where the topographic
changes lead today’s researchers to the lost Terrace locations around
the shores of the new Lake Rotomahana.