3D mapping reveals submerged ridge in NZ

By on 21 January, 2014

AucklandSubmergedRidge_630

3D mapping has revealed a sprawling submerged ridge east of Auckland, New Zealand, according to the NZ Herald.

There wasn’t much information about the Colville Ridge, stretching more than 200km towards Fiji, until a recent research voyage enabled marine geologists to map it in detail for the first time.

The insights, part of a project to create state-of-the-art maps of New Zealand’s entire exclusive economic zone, could prompt a rethink about the origin of the vast ridge. Three-dimensional imaging shows a mountainous ridge covered with jagged cones and with valleys that lie about 2km below the top of its peaks.

“Essentially, what we have done is strip the ocean away so people can see this part of the Earth’s surface for the first time,” said Chief scientist, Dr Cornel de Ronde, of GNS Science. “It’s amazing to think this area is only 200km east of Auckland and ships have been sailing over it for more than a century pretty much oblivious to what lay beneath.

“We set out to map what we thought was an ancient volcanic arc. We were surprised to find it wasn’t dominated by volcanic rocks, but more a mixture of them with large tracts of sedimentary rocks,”

Read the full article over at the NZ Herald.

You may also like to read:


, , , , , , , ,


Newsletter

Sign up now to stay up to date about all the news from Spatial Source. You will get a newsletter every week with the latest news.

Interview: Tori Murrant, GIS analyst
Having stumbled across the geospatial sector at university, ...
Testing SouthPAN and commercial GNSS services
UNSW surveying students were challenged to put a range of So...
Here’s what’s in our latest issue!
Learn about the metaverse, mapmaking, 3D scanning, RINEX, hy...
Modern Methods of Construction Roadshow
The events will show how the latest software, tools and tech...
Real-time LiDAR mapping system
The Brumby LiDAR rapidly produces point clouds by removing t...