Geoheritage is an important aspect in developing workable strategies for natural hazard resilience. This is reflected in the UNESCO IGCP Project (# 692. Geoheritage for Geohazard Resilience) that continues to successfully develop global awareness of the multifaced aspects of geoheritage research. Geohazards form a great variety of natural phenomena that should be properly identified, and their importance communicated to all levels of society. This is especially the case in urban areas such as Auckland. The largest socio-economic urban center in New Zealand, Auckland faces potential volcanic hazards as it sits on an active Quaternary monogenetic volcanic field. Individual volcanic geosites of young eruptive products are considered to form the foundation of community outreach demonstrating causes and consequences of volcanism associated volcanism. However, in recent decades, rapid urban development has increased demand for raw materials and encroached on natural sites which would be ideal for such outreach. The dramatic loss of volcanic geoheritage of Auckland is alarming. Here we demonstrate that abandoned quarry sites (e.g., Wiri Mountain) could be used as key locations to serve these goals. We contrast the reality that Auckland sites are underutilized and fast diminishing, with positive examples known from similar but older volcanic regions, such as the Mio/Pliocene Bakony–Balaton UNESCO Global Geopark in Hungary.
Fissure eruption is the most prominent type of Pleistocene to Holocene volcanism in Arxan-Chaihe Volcanic Field recording vent migration along fissures. This research is examined Sentinel Satellite Images to outline the youngest lava flows in the region in conjunction with field observations. Also, GIS-based analyses were performed with the aim to calculate the volumes of lava flows to determine the length of the lava flow emissions. Topographic cross sections and various geomorphological parameters (e.g., geomorphon and topographic position index) were used to reconstruct the pre-eruptive geomorphology of the region to simulate lava flow inundation using Q-LAVHA plug in the QGIS package. Pre-eruptive topography was created, and various simulations were used to obtain the best-fit lava inundation. This process yielded to estimate an average of 5 m lava flow thickness. The same parameters of the lava flow simulations were used to run on the post-eruptive topography to simulate future lava flow inundation. Results showed that the lava flows best simulate if they emitted along a NE–SE trending fissure between two young vent zones or in an extensive elongated area following the NW–SE trending valley axis initiated from the Yanshan vents.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.