Hell's Gate

Hell’s Gate

We begin the day with a visit to Hell.  Well, to Hell’s Gate, another Maori-run site.  Hell’s Gate gets its name from George Bernard Shaw, who felt the smell and appearance of the phenomena before him --the odor of sulfur; geysers erupting;  huge pools of malodorous steaming water;  mud volcanos, ink-pots (mud pots), and strange rock configurations--could only be the entrance to hell.    

What follows  is a simplified geology lesson (that I've presented in previous blogs and posts) to help understand how this strange place came to be.  The top earth layer (any where from feet to miles) of dirt and rock covers ‘broken plates’ of rock that are always moving. These tectonic plates ceaselessly rub against or over each other.  Over millions of years, this changes the shape of continents, creates mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, geysers, mudpots, and more.  And a great many of these  circle the Pacific in a ‘Ring of Fire’.     

If you want more info please let me know in a comment or email.  I never tire of talking about it but I have a feeling some may tire of reading about it. :)

The Maori have taken great care to create a site that is fascinating and safe for tourists and the environment.  There are boardwalks and carefully delineated paths that navigate the pools and pots, keeping people at a safe distance while allowing maximum exposure.  

Boardwalks, marked trails, and warning signs

There are also warnings making it quite clear that this is not a a giant ashtray or dump site.

The friction of plates rubbing against each other can create debris; sediment builds on the crack between the plates. The ‘blockage’ on the crack allows pressure to mount beneath it, and the steaming, stinking gas, water, and sand burble up from the depths of the earth. That’s a mud volcano: basically a  pressure valves in the earth's crust that can range from a knee-high mound to a mountain.

Kate presents a mud volcano

Geysers, like Old Faithful in Yellowstone or the one below in Hell’s Gate, remind us that we’re not ‘in charge’.  I could keep on going with words but this is a place better suited to a photo essay than a lot of verbiage. 

Hell’s Gate Geyser

Steaming sulfurous pools

Boiling Mud Pot

Geyser erupting from a sulfurous pool

Steamy Rocks, sulfurous pool at Hell’s Gate

mudpot

In spite of the ‘inhospitable’ environment of sulfurous geothermal phenomena, as we walk through Hells Gate we have a chance to go through shady cool woods growing right next to the barren sulfurous pools. I spot a fantail, and actually get a picture (much to my own surprise).

             

One of the things that strikes me (returning to an earlier photo) is the varied landscape here.

Rolling green hills in the background;  above the hills, the long white cloud characteristic of New Zealand; and in the foreground, elements from deep inside the earth bubbling to the surface, creating volcanoes, boiling mud, geysers, reshaping the island even as we walk.

  #     #     #