Lake Tūtira
New Zealand · Oceania
About
Lake Tūtira is a body of water in north-eastern Hawke's Bay in New Zealand, formed by damming of Papakiri Stream by two landslides from a limestone capped cliff on the east.
Much of the area was surveyed by Herbert Guthrie-Smith, who farmed 60,000 acres (240 km²) surrounding the lake. Guthrie-Smith, a naturalist, published the popular Tutira: the story of a New Zealand sheep station in 1921. Today, a camp is run at the site of his homestead.
A small settlement, Tutira, is located near the lake, on State Highway 2 30 kilometres north of Whirinaki.
The lake has an artificial island, Tauranga-Koau, which is located off the east shore of the lake. Tauranga-Koau contained an island pā, which was the site of an attack by Te Urewera, who utilised mōkihi (rafts) to attack the Ngāti Tatara inhabitants. After the attack, Ngāti Tatara was known as Ngāti Kurumōkihi, which translates to 'Those attacked by rafts.'
Sedimentary cores from the lake were used to demonstrate that the landslides mobilising sediments for transport into the lake occur in frequency and magnitude according to a power law.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.