Day Nine: Entering Hell’s Gate
August 23rd, 2008 by Brad Heap
Okay, if this picture is anything to go by I am dead and writing this from the depths of hell.
Now, that isn’t quite the case. I am actually back safely in Auckland after nine days away.
On the way back to Auckland yesterday I passed through Rotorua and went to Hell’s Gate, Rotorua’s most active geothermal reserve. Hell’s Gate is different from other thermal reserves in the Rotorua/Taupo area, as its heat source is only 1.5 - 2km below the surface whereas the other thermal reserves’ heat source is approximately 10+ km under the surface.
The following photos of hell are only a small selection of what you see as you pass through the Gate. Who knew the Hell would be so beautiful.
The Inferno is made up of three major pools with an average temperature of between 105C and 110C. The depth range from 8 to 20m with an average pH of 3.5. Water in the pools exceed the boiling point of 100C due to naturally occurring minerals in the water, which elevates the boiling point.
Sodom and Gomorrah have temperatures in excess of 100C with water erupting out of the pools at up to two meters in height.
The Kakahi Falls is the largest hot water fall in the Southern Hemisphere. Its temperature is approximately 40C, which is that of a nice hot shower.
Devil’s Cauldron. This black mud has a temperature of 120C.
Mud Volcano. This is the only example of a large mud volcano in a geothermal reserve in New Zealand. Currently the volcano is 2.4m high and growing. The mud volcano regularly discharges mud lahars of ejects mud.
Lahar on mud volcano.
The steaming cliffs pool is the hottest in the reserve. At the surface the temperature is 122C and 145C one metre below the surface. The boiling activity of the pool constantly changes with waters sometimes reaching heights of more then three meters above the pool.
The large hot lake discharges over the Kakahi Falls. Water is actively heated in the lakes in some areas reaching in excess of 90C.
The Cooking Pool is where the Maori traditionally cooked Asian tourists who walked off the track. These days it can cook a pig in two hours. The Cooking Pool has a temperature of 98C which remains constant throughout the year. Although smelling of sulphur and containing black water, there is no tainting to the food cooked in the pool.
Sulphur laden steam. What more could you want?
Tags: Geothermal, Hells Gate, New Zealand, Rotorua, Volcanoes
