Pink and White Terraces

The Pink and White Terraces of New Zealand once held the record for the greatest concentrations of silica sinter, or geyserrite, in the entire globe. Lake Rotomahana is where the terraces were created. Actually, there were two terraces. A few hundred meters apart, one was the pink and one was the white. As boiling geysers drained down the mountain over a long period of time, they formed. Over time, silica that was pink in one location and white in another accumulated there with the water. The end result was a series of terraces made of stone that resembled steps with lakes on each level.

The terraces, which attracted visitors from all over the world, were regarded as the 8th Wonder of the World. Finally, Mount Tarawera erupted in 1886. The terraces were destroyed by the eruption, which also destroyed the local town and the surrounding environment. The terraces were then sent to the bottom of the lake, which was now much deeper than it had ever been.

During time, attempts have been made to re-discover the terraces, and it has been hypothesized that some of them were not completely destroyed but rather buried. The requirement for an excavation of the Maori-owned land is, however, not well-supported by the available data.