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Terrain: Travels Through a Deep Landscape
New Zealand's many distinctive landforms are packed into a small space.
Geoff Chapple set out on a year-long journey to find out why, and to seek out the shifting forces that shape them. For company, he chose to walk with geologists and the artisans who work the rock. The journey took him back through geology's global history and onward from end to end of New Zealand.
Terrain is the result – a lucid, personal and sometimes funny account of New Zealand's most astonishing landscapes. Their stories and revelations are a prompt to look more closely at the ground we walk on.
Geoff Chapple set out on a year-long journey to find out why, and to seek out the shifting forces that shape them. For company, he chose to walk with geologists and the artisans who work the rock. The journey took him back through geology's global history and onward from end to end of New Zealand.
Terrain is the result – a lucid, personal and sometimes funny account of New Zealand's most astonishing landscapes. Their stories and revelations are a prompt to look more closely at the ground we walk on.
- GenresNonfictionGeology
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 31, 2015
6 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Geoff Chapple
9 books2 followersGeoff Chapple is an accomplished writer, journalist and committed trail-blazer. He was the founding CEO of the Te Araroa Trust. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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July 21, 2022I’m not a geologist. Neither is Geoff Chapple. Nonetheless I think this is a really good book about geology. It is largely populated with pākehā men with beards, and chips on their shoulders, but then again so is the field of geology.
December 22, 2021
It’s lovely reading books about NZ places and this book made me want to be a geologist.
I knocked off a star because at times it was a bit confusing; he didn’t always explain the jargon very well.
I knocked off a star because at times it was a bit confusing; he didn’t always explain the jargon very well.
December 19, 2015
I grew up in New Zealand and it is still very much home despite me living outside the country. One of the things I am fascinated about NZ is it's very active geology. I briefly studied geology at University in the late '70s, and from reading this book I've discovered that we have a reproduction of one of the more famous geological maps on our wall - the Auckland volcanic field map by von Hochstetter. I didn't know it was famous nor that it was produced by an Austrian geologist! I just liked what it shows.
So I suppose enjoying this book was a forgone conclusion!
As the author describes in his Acknowledgement (and yes I even read these!) this book is a literary look at geology and a travelogue from the North to the South of NZ following Te Araroa, the 3,000 km New Zealand trail - see http://www.teararoa.org.nz/. Through some really interesting characters, geologists and enthusiasts, Chapple describes some of the major features of New Zealand's geology.
Aside from the description and origins of these features, Chapple covers the rapidly (relative to geological time!) evolving picture of the world view of plate tectonics and how this has developed and literally shaped, and continues to shape, the world around us.
When I did the limited study on geology that I did do, in the late 70's, I really didn't grasp how recent the acceptance of plate tectonics was, and how much was being discovered on our back door. I think it's a bit sad as I don't recall real enthusiasm or energy from our lecturers or tutors - makes me wonder what I would have done if they had been as excited about their field as the characters (and author) in this book.
Although I do wish Chapple had taken the opportunity to include a LOT more pictures and maps. As I commented earlier this is a literary look at geology, and the word pictures are effective especially if you've had the opportunity to visit the locations being discussed. Still, I suppose I can hope for an illustrated edition of the book! Craig Potton's photos and Chapple's words . . .
For those interested in geology from any part of the world, and for those wanting to know more about New Zealand this is a very enjoyable read.
So I suppose enjoying this book was a forgone conclusion!
As the author describes in his Acknowledgement (and yes I even read these!) this book is a literary look at geology and a travelogue from the North to the South of NZ following Te Araroa, the 3,000 km New Zealand trail - see http://www.teararoa.org.nz/. Through some really interesting characters, geologists and enthusiasts, Chapple describes some of the major features of New Zealand's geology.
Aside from the description and origins of these features, Chapple covers the rapidly (relative to geological time!) evolving picture of the world view of plate tectonics and how this has developed and literally shaped, and continues to shape, the world around us.
When I did the limited study on geology that I did do, in the late 70's, I really didn't grasp how recent the acceptance of plate tectonics was, and how much was being discovered on our back door. I think it's a bit sad as I don't recall real enthusiasm or energy from our lecturers or tutors - makes me wonder what I would have done if they had been as excited about their field as the characters (and author) in this book.
Although I do wish Chapple had taken the opportunity to include a LOT more pictures and maps. As I commented earlier this is a literary look at geology, and the word pictures are effective especially if you've had the opportunity to visit the locations being discussed. Still, I suppose I can hope for an illustrated edition of the book! Craig Potton's photos and Chapple's words . . .
For those interested in geology from any part of the world, and for those wanting to know more about New Zealand this is a very enjoyable read.
August 13, 2017
While interesting for the most part, the formatting was awful.
April 7, 2020
When Te Araroa founder Geoff Chapple traversed Nelson’s Richmond Range, he was struck by the starkness of the Red Hills. One minute he was walking through a curtain of beech forest, and the next he was on desolate, striking red rock where seemingly nothing grew. What was this rock? He asked Nelson geologist Mike Johnston, who explained that it is rare band of ophiolites, 80 million years old, upthrust from the sea floor. A piece of the Earth’s mantle marooned in mountains now 1700 metres high.
With his curiosity piqued, Chapple spent a year exploring the terrain of the trail with other geologists, and Terrain is the result. To a layperson like me, geologists seem to possess arcane powers of interpreting the Earth’s past history. They’re detectives, damn clever ones, trying not only to map past landscapes, but also to model them in four dimensions – often with the merest scraps of (frequently mangled, altered or obscured) clues. Parts of Northland, for example, including Cape Reinga, consist of remnant volcanic intrusions overlaid by sand, and only connected to the rest of New Zealand by yet more sand. Geologist Mike Isaac explains that they are remnant of ‘the Great Thon’(allochthon) which overran the ‘sunken bulk’ of what was then a low-lying Zealandia some 23 million years ago.
Geologists of course have written many books on their subject, along with scores of scientific papers, but Chapple was determined to produce something different. He was partly inspired by American writer John McPhee, whose literary books on geology set a new benchmark. Similarly, Chapple’s book is part travelogue, part introductory geological guide to New Zealand, part lyrical ballad to the wonders of the underworld. And a tribute to some of our finest geologists.
There’s a lot of Chapple in this book. He’s immersed himself in the narrative – and like he proved in his award-winning book Te Araroa, he’s an intelligent, observant and genial guide. There are stories about the field trips, there are conversations, there are insights into the personalities of the geologists themselves. And there are rocks.
I’d never before understood what ignimbrite is, despite having marvelled at the gorgeous gorges this rock produces in many parts of the central North Island, and the exposed boulders of it on the Kaimanawa’s Ignimbrite Saddle. Now I know that the term derives from ignis (fire) and imbris (storm), reflecting its origins as a product of rare but highly explosive rhylotic eruptions.
If Terrain gives one overwhelming impression, it’s that in New Zealand everything seems to happen on steroids. When Taupo last blew, it blasted 35 million cubic metres of material in just six minutes. Vulcanologist Colin Wilson tells Chapple, ‘The Americans make a lot of fuss about Yellowstone being a supervolcano, and yes it is, but we have bigger and bolder and best.’ Even the tiny Te Maari eruption of August 2012 in Tongariro National Park ejected some 13,000 ‘missiles’, some of which wrecked Ketetahi Hut. ‘By simple chance, no one was staying …’
Volcanoes are one hazard, earthquakes another. Reading about what could happen in a big Wellington shake is sobering enough. However, in the chapter on Westland, Chapple writes about the Alpine Fault, ‘the straightest line on earth’ and one that bespokes ‘pure tectonic power’. Harold Wellman was the maverick geologist who discovered it 70 years ago: ‘His training was minimal, but his eyes were fresh.’ What will happen when this huge fault ruptures next? Terrain leaves you in no doubt that it will be catastrophic. In 1980, geologist John Adams suggested that the fault ruptures roughly every 500 years, producing a magnitude 8 quake. Others have since refined it to 330 years. The last two major earthquakes occurred about 1620 and 1717. ‘The fault was ticking like a grandfather clock, and chiming on the hour, and New Zealand was within the last five minutes of the next chime.’
Reading Terrain requires some dedication – the complexity of the author’s ingredients need slow digestion, not rapid consumption, but Chapple is a fine cook. More pictures and diagrams would perhaps have aided quicker understanding in places, but Chapple wanted to instead stretch the mind of his readers with words. When describing the impact of the Pacific and Australasian tectonic plates, he writes: ‘To call it a collision is to seriously misreport the speed of it, yet no other word serves. Millimetrically slow but irrevocably sure …’
That’s good writing.
With his curiosity piqued, Chapple spent a year exploring the terrain of the trail with other geologists, and Terrain is the result. To a layperson like me, geologists seem to possess arcane powers of interpreting the Earth’s past history. They’re detectives, damn clever ones, trying not only to map past landscapes, but also to model them in four dimensions – often with the merest scraps of (frequently mangled, altered or obscured) clues. Parts of Northland, for example, including Cape Reinga, consist of remnant volcanic intrusions overlaid by sand, and only connected to the rest of New Zealand by yet more sand. Geologist Mike Isaac explains that they are remnant of ‘the Great Thon’(allochthon) which overran the ‘sunken bulk’ of what was then a low-lying Zealandia some 23 million years ago.
Geologists of course have written many books on their subject, along with scores of scientific papers, but Chapple was determined to produce something different. He was partly inspired by American writer John McPhee, whose literary books on geology set a new benchmark. Similarly, Chapple’s book is part travelogue, part introductory geological guide to New Zealand, part lyrical ballad to the wonders of the underworld. And a tribute to some of our finest geologists.
There’s a lot of Chapple in this book. He’s immersed himself in the narrative – and like he proved in his award-winning book Te Araroa, he’s an intelligent, observant and genial guide. There are stories about the field trips, there are conversations, there are insights into the personalities of the geologists themselves. And there are rocks.
I’d never before understood what ignimbrite is, despite having marvelled at the gorgeous gorges this rock produces in many parts of the central North Island, and the exposed boulders of it on the Kaimanawa’s Ignimbrite Saddle. Now I know that the term derives from ignis (fire) and imbris (storm), reflecting its origins as a product of rare but highly explosive rhylotic eruptions.
If Terrain gives one overwhelming impression, it’s that in New Zealand everything seems to happen on steroids. When Taupo last blew, it blasted 35 million cubic metres of material in just six minutes. Vulcanologist Colin Wilson tells Chapple, ‘The Americans make a lot of fuss about Yellowstone being a supervolcano, and yes it is, but we have bigger and bolder and best.’ Even the tiny Te Maari eruption of August 2012 in Tongariro National Park ejected some 13,000 ‘missiles’, some of which wrecked Ketetahi Hut. ‘By simple chance, no one was staying …’
Volcanoes are one hazard, earthquakes another. Reading about what could happen in a big Wellington shake is sobering enough. However, in the chapter on Westland, Chapple writes about the Alpine Fault, ‘the straightest line on earth’ and one that bespokes ‘pure tectonic power’. Harold Wellman was the maverick geologist who discovered it 70 years ago: ‘His training was minimal, but his eyes were fresh.’ What will happen when this huge fault ruptures next? Terrain leaves you in no doubt that it will be catastrophic. In 1980, geologist John Adams suggested that the fault ruptures roughly every 500 years, producing a magnitude 8 quake. Others have since refined it to 330 years. The last two major earthquakes occurred about 1620 and 1717. ‘The fault was ticking like a grandfather clock, and chiming on the hour, and New Zealand was within the last five minutes of the next chime.’
Reading Terrain requires some dedication – the complexity of the author’s ingredients need slow digestion, not rapid consumption, but Chapple is a fine cook. More pictures and diagrams would perhaps have aided quicker understanding in places, but Chapple wanted to instead stretch the mind of his readers with words. When describing the impact of the Pacific and Australasian tectonic plates, he writes: ‘To call it a collision is to seriously misreport the speed of it, yet no other word serves. Millimetrically slow but irrevocably sure …’
That’s good writing.
February 6, 2019
Thoroughly enjoyed this. My geology was stuck back when plate tectonics was emerging. This makes even more sense.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews