“It’s Beyond You, But You’re A Part of It”: Mountaineering in the Southern Alps of Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>This thesis provides a phenomenological exploration of the lived experience of mountaineering in New Zealand. Based on fieldwork completed in the Southern Alps and Mount Ruapehu, it offers an analysis into how mountaineers construct the mountain environment through their climbing, while also being shaped in turn by the vital mountain. At the heart of this thesis is the movement of mountaineering. I argue that the experience of mountaineering cannot be divorced from our embodied sensory perception. Through climbing, mountaineers build a depth of embodied, living knowledge, making sense of technical information and strengthening their judgement to help them climb and manage the risks. That knowledge transforms the mountains for experienced mountaineers. Furthermore, I argue that the vibrant and potentially deadly fluxes of the mountains form their agency and thus the vitality that my participants sense. To climb in the mountains is therefore to enter into a reciprocal relationship with the vital mountain environment. The mountaineers ultimately become a reflection of the mountains in which they climb. This thesis comprises of a written thesis and immersive podcast recording, which has been attached.</p>

“It’s Beyond You, But You’re A Part of It”: Mountaineering in the Southern Alps of Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>This thesis provides a phenomenological exploration of the lived experience of mountaineering in New Zealand. Based on fieldwork completed in the Southern Alps and Mount Ruapehu, it offers an analysis into how mountaineers construct the mountain environment through their climbing, while also being shaped in turn by the vital mountain. At the heart of this thesis is the movement of mountaineering. I argue that the experience of mountaineering cannot be divorced from our embodied sensory perception. Through climbing, mountaineers build a depth of embodied, living knowledge, making sense of technical information and strengthening their judgement to help them climb and manage the risks. That knowledge transforms the mountains for experienced mountaineers. Furthermore, I argue that the vibrant and potentially deadly fluxes of the mountains form their agency and thus the vitality that my participants sense. To climb in the mountains is therefore to enter into a reciprocal relationship with the vital mountain environment. The mountaineers ultimately become a reflection of the mountains in which they climb. This thesis comprises of a written thesis and immersive podcast recording, which has been attached.</p>

Distinguishing between Stress-induced and Structural Anisotropy at Mount Ruapehu Volcano

We have created a benchmark of spatial variations in shear wave anisotropy around Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand, against which to measure future temporal changes. Anisotropy in the crust is often assumed to be caused by stress-aligned microcracks, and the polarization of the fast quasi-shear wave (φ) is thus interpreted to indicate the direction of maximum horizontal stress, but can also be due to aligned minerals or macroscopic fractures. Changes in seismic anisotropy have been observed following a major eruption in 1995/96 and were attributed to changes in stress from the depressurization of the magmatic system. Three-component broadband seismometers have been deployed to complement the permanent stations that surround Ruapehu, creating a combined network of 34 three-component seismometers. This denser observational network improves the resolution with which spatial variations in seismic anisotropy can be examined. Using an automated shear wave splitting analysis, we examine local earthquakes in 2008. We observe a strong azimuthal dependence of φ and so introduce a spatial averaging technique and two-dimensional tomography of recorded delay times. The anisotropy can be divided into regions in which φ agrees with stress estimations from focal mechanism inversions, suggesting stress-induced anisotropy, and those in which φ is aligned with structural features such as faults, suggesting structural anisotropy. The pattern of anisotropy that is inferred to be stress related cannot be modeled adequately using Coulomb modeling with a dike-like inflation source. We suggest that the stress-induced anisotropy is affected by loading of the volcano and a lithospheric discontinuity. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

Distinguishing between Stress-induced and Structural Anisotropy at Mount Ruapehu Volcano

We have created a benchmark of spatial variations in shear wave anisotropy around Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand, against which to measure future temporal changes. Anisotropy in the crust is often assumed to be caused by stress-aligned microcracks, and the polarization of the fast quasi-shear wave (φ) is thus interpreted to indicate the direction of maximum horizontal stress, but can also be due to aligned minerals or macroscopic fractures. Changes in seismic anisotropy have been observed following a major eruption in 1995/96 and were attributed to changes in stress from the depressurization of the magmatic system. Three-component broadband seismometers have been deployed to complement the permanent stations that surround Ruapehu, creating a combined network of 34 three-component seismometers. This denser observational network improves the resolution with which spatial variations in seismic anisotropy can be examined. Using an automated shear wave splitting analysis, we examine local earthquakes in 2008. We observe a strong azimuthal dependence of φ and so introduce a spatial averaging technique and two-dimensional tomography of recorded delay times. The anisotropy can be divided into regions in which φ agrees with stress estimations from focal mechanism inversions, suggesting stress-induced anisotropy, and those in which φ is aligned with structural features such as faults, suggesting structural anisotropy. The pattern of anisotropy that is inferred to be stress related cannot be modeled adequately using Coulomb modeling with a dike-like inflation source. We suggest that the stress-induced anisotropy is affected by loading of the volcano and a lithospheric discontinuity. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

Fragmentation of steaming Surtseyan bombs

&lt;p&gt;A Surtseyan volcanic eruption involves a bulk interaction between water and hot magma, mediated by the return of ejected ash. Surtsey Island, off the coast of Iceland, was born during such an eruption process in the 1940s. Mount Ruapehu in New Zealand also undergoes Surtseyan eruptions, due to its crater lake.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One feature of such eruptions is ejected lava bombs, trailing steam, with evidence that watery slurry was trapped inside them during the ejection process. Simple calculations indicate that the pressures developed due to boiling inside such a bomb should shatter it. Yet intact bombs are routinely discovered in debris piles. In an attempt to crack this problem, and provide a criterion for fragmentation of Surtseyan bombs, a transient mathematical model of the flashing of water to steam inside one of these hot erupted lava balls is developed, with a particular focus on the maximum pressure attained, and how it depends on magma and fluid properties. Numerical and asymptotic solutions provide some answers for volcanologists.&lt;/p&gt;

Reflections on the life of Kenneth William Piddington (1933–2014)

Few public servants in the post-war era have made such a significant contribution in so many fields or shown more vision than Ken Piddington. Tragically, Ken was killed in a motor accident near Sanson on 28 February 2014, while en route to his eco-friendly property near Mount Ruapehu.