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Cave & Karst Management in the Grey District of the West Coast .2005.
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DescriptionCaves. Especially Te Ana Puta cave at Point Elizabeth and Cleopatras Bath at Marsden.
Some cave/karst features in Cobden Limestone Coastal Karst Point Elizabeth Te Ana Puta Cave, Point Elizabeth Rapahoe Range tomos (Cobden Cross) Grey River Gorge & Tainui’s Cave Saltwater Creek - Welshmans Cave system Cleopatra’s Bath, Limestone Road, Marsden Cave, Marsden Fireball Ck,Tansey Ck Gorges, Cape Terrace Whiskey Cave, Cape Terrace Stream capture to Tansey Ck, Cape Terrace
Cave & Karst Management in the Grey District of the West Coast of The
Map: excerpt from Greymouth 1:250,000 Geological Map 2002. The Cobden Limestone forms the “horseshoe” shaped outcrop either side of the Brunner Anticline. Further south at Marsden and Cape Terrace there are other small outcrops along the axis of the anticline.
NOTE: As the karst and caves in this area are ample macrofossils, can be found in the Eassons formed from two quite different strata, this paper Hill - Alexander Street area of Greymouth is in two parts. township.
Part I: Cobden Limestone A full section through the Cobden Limestone can be viewed at the Grey River Gorge where the Geology river has cut right down through the formation (to The geology of the Cobden Limestone is perhaps over 50m below river level at the road bridge). better known than that of the other Oligocene Nile This section showed sufficient diversity in 1974 Group Limestones further north up the West for DSIR Geologist Simon Nathan to further Coast, not because the limestone is of particular subdivide the formation, from lowest to highest, interest, but because it lies between two major into the Ngarimu Limestone Member (ncn: economic resource areas, the coal measures of the comprising 175m of interbedded muddy limestone southern Paparoas and the gold bearing glacial and calcareous mudstone in thin bands), the gravels covering much of North Westland’s Tarapuhi Limestone Member (nct: comprising a lowlands. massive, hard, light grey to light brown muddy limestone) and the Puketahi Mudstone Member In the search for coal and associated petroleum (ncp: comprising of 120m of grey, moderately resources, over 60 wells have been drilled in hard, highly calcareous mudstone with North Westland since the 1930s. This has interbedded bands of white muddy limestone). revealed that the Cobden Limestone underlies most of the area from Runanga south to the At Point Elizabeth only the top two members are Arahura River (at least) and from the coast inland in evidence with Te Ana Puta Cave and the many to Lake Brunner. Limestone was only absent from sea-stacks being formed in Tarapuhi Limestone. drill cores taken from the Kawhaka-1 Well, east The Puketahi Mudstone is exposed for about of Hokitika. Geologists view the Cobden 800m along the coast south of Point Elizabeth. Limestone as a reliable seismic reflector in their Coastal erosion here has produced some explorations for coal, oil and gas. interesting coastal landforms. Karst features in the Grey River Gorge area include, on the Cobden The Cobden Limestone outcrops in a horseshoe side, Cobden Cave, the grikes and tomos behind shape astride the axis of the Brunner Anticline as Kells hotel and the cave behind the quarry wall. it begins to plunge south-west. This plunge has On the Greymouth side there is a creek which formed an eastern limb (the Kaiata Range) and a emerges from an unnamed cave by the rail bridge western limb (the Peter Ridge – Rapahoe Range). and the tomos and grikes off the Kings Park These ranges are characterised by narrow steep Walking Track. A cave, used as a Maori burial escarpments and wider dip slopes. To the site was quarried away in the 1880s. southwest, along the axis of the Brunner Anticline, there are also small limestone outcrops There are many other tomos and small caves in at Marsden and Cape Terrace, both cavernously the Rapahoe Range - Peter Ridge - Kaiata Range forming. area. While some of the tomos are quite deep (a 75m deep hole was explored behind the Cobden Cobden Limestone is a variable rock, described Cross in the 1970s) most of the caves found to by Nathan as “as a fine-grained creamy-white to date are relatively small and muddy. In some light brown-grey muddy micritic limestone, places this is both a function of the muddiness of locally containing interbedded bands of the limestone and development such as calcareous mudstone.” With rare exceptions, goldmining, logging and farming. These two analysed samples from throughout the formation factors are compounded at Limestone Road where contain less than 80% CaCO , most being in the 3 underground drainage, which emerges from range 70-75% CaCO . The exceptions have been 3 Welshman’s Cave as Saltwater Creek, struggles to in samples have been taken from Fireball Creek at cross the still rising Brunner Anticline (3mm/yr). Cape Terrace and the Lisbon - Stillwater Creek The once pristine formations in the related area near Stillwater. The very highest assays in Cleopatra’s Bath are now very muddied (not to the area actually come from a higher horizon, the mention vandalised and covered with graffiti). A Tindale Limestone Member within the Miocene study will be carried out to survey and then Stillwater Formation. This highly localised monitor the underground drainage in this area. polyzoan and foraminiferal limestone, containing Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 16 Proceedings of the 16th ACKMA Conference, Westport, NZ, 2005
History Further gold mining was carried at both places during the Great Depression. The karst and caves of the Cobden Limestone have been far more impacted by human endeavour By the turn of the 20th century some Greymouth that any of the other limestone areas of the West people had developed an appreciation of the Coast region. The Maori inhabiting pa on both scenic values of the limestone hills behind the sides of the Grey river had only “minimal town and moves were made to protect some areas. footprint” on the karst with their huts, gardens and The Rapahoe Range Scenic Reserve, including network of foot-trails (e.g. along the Peter Ridge Point Elizabeth, was gazetted in 1910 and the and around Point Elizabeth). Their only recorded Marsden Caves Scenic Reserve, incorporating use of caves was to utilise a small cave for burial part of the old Limestone Diggings was gazetted purposes. The few explorers and prospectors in 1917. The impetus for the latter came from the area prior to 1860, many of whom relied on local people desirous of protecting a small, but Maori guides and hospitality, also had minimal well decorated cave (Cleopatra’s Bath). Sadly a impact on the karst. recommended gate was not put in place to limit access to this cave and during the 1920 – 30s the Then in 1864 things changed for all time. Payable many visitors damaged formations and left an gold was found at the Greenstone and by 1865 abundance of carbide graffiti. Attempt to reverse Europeans were flocking to the West Coast in this gazettal were made in the 1950s by timber droves, coming overland from Canterbury and by millers but this was denied by the Lands & Survey ship to the river ports at Hokitika and the Grey. Department. In 1987 further land adjoining land After a number of rushes to creeks in the Hokitika was reserved by the NZ Forest Service as Card area some experienced Californian miners Creek Ecological Reserve. Management today recognised the potential of the black mineral here by DOC is low key and the one track up sands on the beaches and these were rushed too. Kakawau Peak is maintained by the West Coast When the main beaches were exhausted of gold Alpine Club. The track climbs through a fine interest turned to the older raised beaches coast, stand of podocarp forest and passes numerous such as Darkies Terrace on the south side of Point tomos, most of which have not been explored. Elizabeth. One spinoff of all the goldmining around the On June 7th 1866 an article in the Grey River Welshman’s – Limestone Road area were the Argus noted that a dam put in by miners at many finds of moa and other bird bones in small Darkies Terrace had failed, with all the water caves and fissures in the limestone. Sufficient draining away down a “well like fissure about were found for the goldminers to call one area thirty feet deep.” Their curiosity piqued the along Saltwater Creek, Moa Flat. As recently as miners lowered one another down on ropes and 1977 local man Peter Neame found bones from found “a very extensive cavern, the lofty roof of moa, coot and kiwi in a sinkhole which were which was studded with stalactites and identified by the Canterbury Museum specialist petrifactions. The appearance of the cave is Ron Scarlett. described by those who entered it as exceedingly beautiful, and well worth the trouble of reaching By far the biggest impact Europeans have made is it.” This is the first non-Maori record of any to the limestone cliffs on both sides of the Grey limestone cave found on the West Coast. River Gorge. These used to come right down to water level on both sides before quarrying was The problem of getting water to work beach sands carried out to create access upriver and provide or glacial gravels directly overlying limestone rock for river-works. Sadly quarrying the meant that the workings at both Darkies Terrace Greymouth side was done at the expense of a and Limestone Road at the south end of the Peter Maori burial cave and large tomo, described in an Ridge were given up on rather than worked out. article by Hindmarsh in the Grey River Argus, At both places the karst has been much impacted 1922 as an “extraordinary cave or great shaft-like upon by mining. At Point Elizabeth the many gold opening in the limestone, some 50 or 60 feet workings, water-races and dams have probably deep.” Initial quarrying in 1868 opened up a cave made some changes to the caves below while entrance to the bottom of this tomo and canny mining Limestone Road was followed by farming locals made quite a good business of taking and logging in the head of Saltwater Creek. visitors through to view the stream. However Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 16 Proceedings of the 16th ACKMA Conference, Westport, NZ, 2005
further quarrying destroyed this too in the 1870s never come from before. Much flooding and and the only remnant of this feature today are two damage was caused because of this in properties underground streams which emerge immediately along Bright Street between the quarry face and downstream of the new rail bridge works. Weld Street. However instead of unblocking the natural drainage the Borough Council spent The Maori burial cave did not go without dissent. thousands of dollars on the provision of new Werita Tainui, last of the Poutini Ngai Tahu drainage should the flooding re-occur (which it chiefs who sold the West Coast (barring a few has). hard argued native reserves) to James Mackay for 300 pounds on May 21st 1860, only gave consent The practice of building homes on the limestone after a toha was brought down from the North hills Island to lift the tapu on the removal of his This was done both for the view and to escape family’s remains. Access to this cave had been by Grey River floods. So many problems have been climbing a tree so the cave must have been mid- encountered with this practice since the town’s cliff and of reasonable size as at least a dozen inception that the District Council today has a family members were buried there between 1854 slope hazard policy which restricts building and and 1868. In his last years Tainui insisted that he /or further development on the limestone hills. wanted to be buried near where his ancestors had There are records of both rockfall and slope been buried so upon his death in 1880 he was failure, especially when clearance, then entombed at the foot of the cliff near the former development has taken place on mudstone over cave. The place today is marked with a simple limestone. The very large Omoto Slip (over 10 iron cross at the side of the footpath. acres) which quietly carried off several houses overnight in October 1954, is an ongoing problem Management Issues between Greymouth and Kaiata. Transit NZ recently released a report stating that that road and The following issues are directly related to the rail buckling will continue here as a permanent fix fact that most people living or working on or would be extremely costly. about the Cobden Limestone have no understanding of karst hydrology. Most do not Lack of leadership from government agencies connect the many “mine shafts” with underground Despite the fact that the Greymouth– Mawheranui streams until there is a flooding problem. Local DOC Area Office is located in the town, and are body knowledge is also limited and some poor managers of a large karst area, none of the staff decisions have been made in the past because of have specific training in karst values. Expertise this. Key issues are: exists at the Buller – Kawhitiri DOC Area Office, The propensity of local people to treat tomos and but currently cave and karst assessment / sinkholes as rubbish pits management work is limited to the Buller area only.. This can be seen in a number of places between Point Elizabeth and the far end of the Peter Ridge. Management Groups responsible for Caves Polluted groundwater can be also be found in & Karst in the Cobden Limestone: some places, e.g. from water emanating from the Department of Conservation Cobden Quarry cave and in the Saltwater Creek - Limestone Road area. Dead sheep are regularly The Greymouth – Mawheranui Office DOC office thrown into a tomo here. is the largest manager of Grey District karst, including the Rapahoe Range, Omotumoutu and The failure to understand ground water behaviour Marsden Scenic Reserves and the Card Creek For instance a creek used to drain from the face of Ecological Reserve. The office maintains only one the Cobden Quarry until it was blocked by walking track at Point Elizabeth, despite the large blasting activity about 60 years ago. No great area under their management. Lack of resources concern seems to have been placed upon this until (monetary, personnel) are a barrier to opening December 7th 1953 when overnight Greymouth other tracks on the karst or carrying out any had 12 inches of rain. By morning so much water specific karst studies. had backed up inside the hill behind the blocked stream exit it began to resurge from places it had Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 16 Proceedings of the 16th ACKMA Conference, Westport, NZ, 2005
Grey District Council valued by local people but their attention also needs to be drawn to other values in their karst The council maintains a number of short tracks to environment. viewing points on the limestone on both sides of the river and to the Cobden Cave. There are safety issues regarding barriers around tomos and at the Some cave/karst features in Cobden Limestone cave. The council has a slope hazard policy in place, which any proposed development on the Coastal Karst Point Elizabeth limestone slopes is subject to, because of Te Ana Puta Cave, Point Elizabeth landslide risk. Heavy local downpours can cause Rapahoe Range tomos (Cobden Cross) underground drainage to overflow, causing urban Grey River Gorge & Tainui’s Cave flooding in both Greymouth and Cobden. Saltwater Creek - Welshmans Cave system Cleopatra’s Bath, Limestone Road, West Coast Regional Council Marsden Cave, Marsden The Regional Council is both owner and manager Fireball Ck,Tansey Ck Gorges, Cape Terrace of the Cobden Quarry. In February 2005 it was Whiskey Cave, Cape Terrace announced that the quarry would close and be Stream capture to Tansey Ck, Cape Terrace rehabilitated in conjunction with community group “Progressive Cobden” after remaining Recommended Reading useable rock is removed. This work will markedly improve one gateway to Greymouth. 1. Some Cave and Water Passages in Grey District, HN McLeod, Transactions of NZ Timberlands West Coast Ltd Institute, Vol. XXXVI, pp 479 – 80, 1903 Part of Timberlands pinus radiata plantings at 2. Tales of the Golden West, “Waratah” Cape Terrace is over karst in the Stillwater - (Hindmarsh), 1906: Chap.V, p.46, “A Ride to Fireball and Tansey Creek catchments. Here there Point Elizabeth” are caves, tomos, gorges and a stream capture from one catchment to the other. The company 3. Guiness and His Days, FA Kitchingham, 1965 are aware of the significance of this karst, having 4. Te Ana Puta Cave, Pt Elizabeth, West Coast: M had an assessment of the area made on the DOC Trayes article, NZSS Bulletin Vol 9, No 176, template, and are seeking best practice advice for 1995 future management. Sedimentation of the streams and caves has been a problem in the past. 5. Point Elizabeth, an Example of New Zealand’s Natural Heritage, Mary Trayes, unpublished Mawhera Incorporation – Ngai Tahu Massey Paper, 2000 Mawhera Inc are owners of lower Peter Ridge. 6. Evolution of the New River Drainage System, They have permitted a neighbouring landowner to Westland, Jane Soons article, NZ Journal Geology remove overhanging rock from their land for & Geophysics, 2001, Vol.44 pp 137 –143. safety reasons. Ongoing rock removal at the site has created further instability problems. The Maps rockfall and safety issues here, plus potential for 1. Geological Map, PG Morgan, 1911, NZ uncovering an underground stream, need better Geological Survey management. 2. Greymouth Geological Map & Handbook, Private Landowners Sheet S44, 1:63.360, Simon Nathan 1978, DSIR Many people own properties backing onto the 3. Geology of the Kumara – Moana Area, Map & limestone at Cobden, up the Omotumotu Valley Full Text, Sheets J32 & Part K32, 1:50,000, RP and out through Boddytown to Welshmans and Suggate & T Waight, 1994, GNS. Marsden. Much of this land has been gold-mined, logged and/or farmed without care as to karst 4. Geology of the Greymouth Area, Map & drainage. In the past year local cavers have seen Handbook, Map 12, Q Series, 1:250,000, 2002, domestic rubbish, old cars, dead animals and GNS. sediment from land clearance in tomos and caves. Part II: Island Sandstone Fossils found in the Limestone Road area are Geology Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 16 Proceedings of the 16th ACKMA Conference, Westport, NZ, 2005
An area of cavern forming Island Sandstone lies diverted into the mine, given the large scale of the between the Twelve Apostles - Raphoe Range and mining and the nature of the country. the main Paparoa Range and stretches inland from History the coast at Rapahoe to Dunollie. The cavernously forming area is only a small part of Cavern Cave has been known of since at least the this formation which overlies the Brunner Coal turn of the 20th century. Geologists of the NZ Measures in many places on the West Coast, e.g. Geological Survey of the time were mostly in the Truman Track area at Punakaiki. charged with finding economic resources but maps and reports also included features such as In the Dunollie area Island Sandstone overlies a caves. It is probable that prospectors looking for thin strata of Brunner Coal Measures which in payable coal and some early residents (Runanga turn overlie the various horizons of the Paparoa and Dunollie were built for the coal mining Coal Measures. Coal from both strata has been industry in 1905 –06) also visited Cavern Cave mined over the last 100 years and the general area and perhaps came across other small caves, but has long since been set aside as a State Coal there are very few records of this. Reserve. Currently the area is managed under the Crown Minerals Act by the Ministry for A number of adventurous locals visited the cave Economic Development. during the 1950 - 60s and it was surveyed in the 1970s by members of the Greymouth Caving Island Sandstone is sufficiently calcareous here to Group led by local cave enthusiast, Graham Love. form caves with one cave in particular being quite During the 1980s Greymouth High School large and robust. This is the cave into which the Outdoor Educations students began visiting the waters of Cavern Creek sinks. No resurgence has cave under the guidance of Bill Gilbertson and ever been found for this water although freshwater Marc Paterson and in the early 1990s the Wild springs, which fishermen report offshore at West Adventure Company began using the cave Rapahoe, may be tied in with this. There are also for adventure caving trips. a number of other small, fairly muddy caves including Abbey and Tramway Caves plus Clients of the tour operator are the most frequent sinkholes and tomos. A small unnamed creek visitors to the cave today. School and local use which crosses the upper end of Herd Street is has dropped off as access has become more often dry, its waters having sunk about 500m difficult. Modern safety requirements and the upstream. A spring in the back yard of the last development surrounding the new Spring Creek house on the left in this street may be the Mine mean that vehicles going into the mining resurgence for this water. area must now have flashing lights. Access is further hindered by a length of fencing to keep Anyone prospecting for caves in the area today dogs out to protect kiwi. Those going to the cave will also come across a number of abandoned must have a key to the gate through the fence or mines, numerous drill hole sites where coal take a long detour to go round it. Access to other prospecting has been carried out and the large caves in the area is generally less restricted. development and infrastructure surrounding the large new mine at Spring Creek. Here modern mining techniques are being used to access coals Management Issues from the Paparoa Coal measures underneath the Island Sandstone. It is planned to eventually There are two main management issues at Cavern tunnel underneath Cavern Creek in order to follow Cave. The first is the conflict of interest between the coal down and out under the sea. This has the the two main user groups in the area. Whilst Wild potential to destabilise the overlying strata and West have complied readily with the mining make trips into the cave unsafe. company’s safety requirements about access, there is a real need for more dialogue between the The whole of the Greymouth Coalfield is broken two groups given that expansion of the mine has up by numerous faults trending north-eastwards the potential to destabilise the cave and put the and mining is generally difficult because of this. tour operator out of business. There is potential for water working its way underground via the joint and bedding planes in the cavernously forming Island Sandstone to be Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 16 Proceedings of the 16th ACKMA Conference, Westport, NZ, 2005
A similar lack of empathy by those in mining a NZ State Owned Enterprise, licence to mine industry toward both the environment and cave coal at Dunollie, this being the same area as a users was also shown in an incident during the commercial tour operator, Wild West Adventures, mid 1990s. A drill site was located quite near to takes adventure cave tours. The viability of the the cave entrance but rather than pumping drilling latter enterprise is under threat as the new Spring discharge (as required) to a settling pond, the Creek Mine expands. drillers simply pumped it down the cave, putting cave tour operation out of action for a fortnight and preventing a scheduled visit from the Outdoor Karst & Cave Features Pursuits class at Greymouth High School. Cavern Cave, Dunollie (aka Dragons Cave) The second issue is that of safety of the cave Abbey Road Cave, Tramway Cave tours. Cavern Creek can rise very quickly after Small unnamed caves Rapahoe – James Mine area heavy rain with the potential to trap people in the Stream sink/resurgence Herd Street Dunollie cave. The problem is made worse by the poor communications in the area (no cell ‘phone Recommended Reading coverage). Today whilst the potential still exists, the tour operator has purchased radios to provide 1. The Greymouth Coalfield, Bulletin 45, NZ emergency communications and Coast Cave & Geological Survey, pp 44-46 by Maxwell Gage, Vertical Rescue have an Evacuation Plan for the published DSIR 1952 cave.
Management groups responsible for karst Maps & caves in Island Sandstone: 1. Geological Map, PG Morgan, 1911, NZ Ministry for Economic Development Geological Survey Crown Minerals, within the Ministry for 2.
Greymouth Geological Map & Handbook, Economic Development has issued Solid Energy, Sheet S44, 1:63,360 Simon Nathan, 1978, DSIR
Date of Photo2005Map[1] External LinkCave and Karst ManagementContributorMarie Tern
Some cave/karst features in Cobden Limestone Coastal Karst Point Elizabeth Te Ana Puta Cave, Point Elizabeth Rapahoe Range tomos (Cobden Cross) Grey River Gorge & Tainui’s Cave Saltwater Creek - Welshmans Cave system Cleopatra’s Bath, Limestone Road, Marsden Cave, Marsden Fireball Ck,Tansey Ck Gorges, Cape Terrace Whiskey Cave, Cape Terrace Stream capture to Tansey Ck, Cape Terrace
Cave & Karst Management in the Grey District of the West Coast of The
Map: excerpt from Greymouth 1:250,000 Geological Map 2002. The Cobden Limestone forms the “horseshoe” shaped outcrop either side of the Brunner Anticline. Further south at Marsden and Cape Terrace there are other small outcrops along the axis of the anticline.
NOTE: As the karst and caves in this area are ample macrofossils, can be found in the Eassons formed from two quite different strata, this paper Hill - Alexander Street area of Greymouth is in two parts. township.
Part I: Cobden Limestone A full section through the Cobden Limestone can be viewed at the Grey River Gorge where the Geology river has cut right down through the formation (to The geology of the Cobden Limestone is perhaps over 50m below river level at the road bridge). better known than that of the other Oligocene Nile This section showed sufficient diversity in 1974 Group Limestones further north up the West for DSIR Geologist Simon Nathan to further Coast, not because the limestone is of particular subdivide the formation, from lowest to highest, interest, but because it lies between two major into the Ngarimu Limestone Member (ncn: economic resource areas, the coal measures of the comprising 175m of interbedded muddy limestone southern Paparoas and the gold bearing glacial and calcareous mudstone in thin bands), the gravels covering much of North Westland’s Tarapuhi Limestone Member (nct: comprising a lowlands. massive, hard, light grey to light brown muddy limestone) and the Puketahi Mudstone Member In the search for coal and associated petroleum (ncp: comprising of 120m of grey, moderately resources, over 60 wells have been drilled in hard, highly calcareous mudstone with North Westland since the 1930s. This has interbedded bands of white muddy limestone). revealed that the Cobden Limestone underlies most of the area from Runanga south to the At Point Elizabeth only the top two members are Arahura River (at least) and from the coast inland in evidence with Te Ana Puta Cave and the many to Lake Brunner. Limestone was only absent from sea-stacks being formed in Tarapuhi Limestone. drill cores taken from the Kawhaka-1 Well, east The Puketahi Mudstone is exposed for about of Hokitika. Geologists view the Cobden 800m along the coast south of Point Elizabeth. Limestone as a reliable seismic reflector in their Coastal erosion here has produced some explorations for coal, oil and gas. interesting coastal landforms. Karst features in the Grey River Gorge area include, on the Cobden The Cobden Limestone outcrops in a horseshoe side, Cobden Cave, the grikes and tomos behind shape astride the axis of the Brunner Anticline as Kells hotel and the cave behind the quarry wall. it begins to plunge south-west. This plunge has On the Greymouth side there is a creek which formed an eastern limb (the Kaiata Range) and a emerges from an unnamed cave by the rail bridge western limb (the Peter Ridge – Rapahoe Range). and the tomos and grikes off the Kings Park These ranges are characterised by narrow steep Walking Track. A cave, used as a Maori burial escarpments and wider dip slopes. To the site was quarried away in the 1880s. southwest, along the axis of the Brunner Anticline, there are also small limestone outcrops There are many other tomos and small caves in at Marsden and Cape Terrace, both cavernously the Rapahoe Range - Peter Ridge - Kaiata Range forming. area. While some of the tomos are quite deep (a 75m deep hole was explored behind the Cobden Cobden Limestone is a variable rock, described Cross in the 1970s) most of the caves found to by Nathan as “as a fine-grained creamy-white to date are relatively small and muddy. In some light brown-grey muddy micritic limestone, places this is both a function of the muddiness of locally containing interbedded bands of the limestone and development such as calcareous mudstone.” With rare exceptions, goldmining, logging and farming. These two analysed samples from throughout the formation factors are compounded at Limestone Road where contain less than 80% CaCO , most being in the 3 underground drainage, which emerges from range 70-75% CaCO . The exceptions have been 3 Welshman’s Cave as Saltwater Creek, struggles to in samples have been taken from Fireball Creek at cross the still rising Brunner Anticline (3mm/yr). Cape Terrace and the Lisbon - Stillwater Creek The once pristine formations in the related area near Stillwater. The very highest assays in Cleopatra’s Bath are now very muddied (not to the area actually come from a higher horizon, the mention vandalised and covered with graffiti). A Tindale Limestone Member within the Miocene study will be carried out to survey and then Stillwater Formation. This highly localised monitor the underground drainage in this area. polyzoan and foraminiferal limestone, containing Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 16 Proceedings of the 16th ACKMA Conference, Westport, NZ, 2005
History Further gold mining was carried at both places during the Great Depression. The karst and caves of the Cobden Limestone have been far more impacted by human endeavour By the turn of the 20th century some Greymouth that any of the other limestone areas of the West people had developed an appreciation of the Coast region. The Maori inhabiting pa on both scenic values of the limestone hills behind the sides of the Grey river had only “minimal town and moves were made to protect some areas. footprint” on the karst with their huts, gardens and The Rapahoe Range Scenic Reserve, including network of foot-trails (e.g. along the Peter Ridge Point Elizabeth, was gazetted in 1910 and the and around Point Elizabeth). Their only recorded Marsden Caves Scenic Reserve, incorporating use of caves was to utilise a small cave for burial part of the old Limestone Diggings was gazetted purposes. The few explorers and prospectors in 1917. The impetus for the latter came from the area prior to 1860, many of whom relied on local people desirous of protecting a small, but Maori guides and hospitality, also had minimal well decorated cave (Cleopatra’s Bath). Sadly a impact on the karst. recommended gate was not put in place to limit access to this cave and during the 1920 – 30s the Then in 1864 things changed for all time. Payable many visitors damaged formations and left an gold was found at the Greenstone and by 1865 abundance of carbide graffiti. Attempt to reverse Europeans were flocking to the West Coast in this gazettal were made in the 1950s by timber droves, coming overland from Canterbury and by millers but this was denied by the Lands & Survey ship to the river ports at Hokitika and the Grey. Department. In 1987 further land adjoining land After a number of rushes to creeks in the Hokitika was reserved by the NZ Forest Service as Card area some experienced Californian miners Creek Ecological Reserve. Management today recognised the potential of the black mineral here by DOC is low key and the one track up sands on the beaches and these were rushed too. Kakawau Peak is maintained by the West Coast When the main beaches were exhausted of gold Alpine Club. The track climbs through a fine interest turned to the older raised beaches coast, stand of podocarp forest and passes numerous such as Darkies Terrace on the south side of Point tomos, most of which have not been explored. Elizabeth. One spinoff of all the goldmining around the On June 7th 1866 an article in the Grey River Welshman’s – Limestone Road area were the Argus noted that a dam put in by miners at many finds of moa and other bird bones in small Darkies Terrace had failed, with all the water caves and fissures in the limestone. Sufficient draining away down a “well like fissure about were found for the goldminers to call one area thirty feet deep.” Their curiosity piqued the along Saltwater Creek, Moa Flat. As recently as miners lowered one another down on ropes and 1977 local man Peter Neame found bones from found “a very extensive cavern, the lofty roof of moa, coot and kiwi in a sinkhole which were which was studded with stalactites and identified by the Canterbury Museum specialist petrifactions. The appearance of the cave is Ron Scarlett. described by those who entered it as exceedingly beautiful, and well worth the trouble of reaching By far the biggest impact Europeans have made is it.” This is the first non-Maori record of any to the limestone cliffs on both sides of the Grey limestone cave found on the West Coast. River Gorge. These used to come right down to water level on both sides before quarrying was The problem of getting water to work beach sands carried out to create access upriver and provide or glacial gravels directly overlying limestone rock for river-works. Sadly quarrying the meant that the workings at both Darkies Terrace Greymouth side was done at the expense of a and Limestone Road at the south end of the Peter Maori burial cave and large tomo, described in an Ridge were given up on rather than worked out. article by Hindmarsh in the Grey River Argus, At both places the karst has been much impacted 1922 as an “extraordinary cave or great shaft-like upon by mining. At Point Elizabeth the many gold opening in the limestone, some 50 or 60 feet workings, water-races and dams have probably deep.” Initial quarrying in 1868 opened up a cave made some changes to the caves below while entrance to the bottom of this tomo and canny mining Limestone Road was followed by farming locals made quite a good business of taking and logging in the head of Saltwater Creek. visitors through to view the stream. However Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 16 Proceedings of the 16th ACKMA Conference, Westport, NZ, 2005
further quarrying destroyed this too in the 1870s never come from before. Much flooding and and the only remnant of this feature today are two damage was caused because of this in properties underground streams which emerge immediately along Bright Street between the quarry face and downstream of the new rail bridge works. Weld Street. However instead of unblocking the natural drainage the Borough Council spent The Maori burial cave did not go without dissent. thousands of dollars on the provision of new Werita Tainui, last of the Poutini Ngai Tahu drainage should the flooding re-occur (which it chiefs who sold the West Coast (barring a few has). hard argued native reserves) to James Mackay for 300 pounds on May 21st 1860, only gave consent The practice of building homes on the limestone after a toha was brought down from the North hills Island to lift the tapu on the removal of his This was done both for the view and to escape family’s remains. Access to this cave had been by Grey River floods. So many problems have been climbing a tree so the cave must have been mid- encountered with this practice since the town’s cliff and of reasonable size as at least a dozen inception that the District Council today has a family members were buried there between 1854 slope hazard policy which restricts building and and 1868. In his last years Tainui insisted that he /or further development on the limestone hills. wanted to be buried near where his ancestors had There are records of both rockfall and slope been buried so upon his death in 1880 he was failure, especially when clearance, then entombed at the foot of the cliff near the former development has taken place on mudstone over cave. The place today is marked with a simple limestone. The very large Omoto Slip (over 10 iron cross at the side of the footpath. acres) which quietly carried off several houses overnight in October 1954, is an ongoing problem Management Issues between Greymouth and Kaiata. Transit NZ recently released a report stating that that road and The following issues are directly related to the rail buckling will continue here as a permanent fix fact that most people living or working on or would be extremely costly. about the Cobden Limestone have no understanding of karst hydrology. Most do not Lack of leadership from government agencies connect the many “mine shafts” with underground Despite the fact that the Greymouth– Mawheranui streams until there is a flooding problem. Local DOC Area Office is located in the town, and are body knowledge is also limited and some poor managers of a large karst area, none of the staff decisions have been made in the past because of have specific training in karst values. Expertise this. Key issues are: exists at the Buller – Kawhitiri DOC Area Office, The propensity of local people to treat tomos and but currently cave and karst assessment / sinkholes as rubbish pits management work is limited to the Buller area only.. This can be seen in a number of places between Point Elizabeth and the far end of the Peter Ridge. Management Groups responsible for Caves Polluted groundwater can be also be found in & Karst in the Cobden Limestone: some places, e.g. from water emanating from the Department of Conservation Cobden Quarry cave and in the Saltwater Creek - Limestone Road area. Dead sheep are regularly The Greymouth – Mawheranui Office DOC office thrown into a tomo here. is the largest manager of Grey District karst, including the Rapahoe Range, Omotumoutu and The failure to understand ground water behaviour Marsden Scenic Reserves and the Card Creek For instance a creek used to drain from the face of Ecological Reserve. The office maintains only one the Cobden Quarry until it was blocked by walking track at Point Elizabeth, despite the large blasting activity about 60 years ago. No great area under their management. Lack of resources concern seems to have been placed upon this until (monetary, personnel) are a barrier to opening December 7th 1953 when overnight Greymouth other tracks on the karst or carrying out any had 12 inches of rain. By morning so much water specific karst studies. had backed up inside the hill behind the blocked stream exit it began to resurge from places it had Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 16 Proceedings of the 16th ACKMA Conference, Westport, NZ, 2005
Grey District Council valued by local people but their attention also needs to be drawn to other values in their karst The council maintains a number of short tracks to environment. viewing points on the limestone on both sides of the river and to the Cobden Cave. There are safety issues regarding barriers around tomos and at the Some cave/karst features in Cobden Limestone cave. The council has a slope hazard policy in place, which any proposed development on the Coastal Karst Point Elizabeth limestone slopes is subject to, because of Te Ana Puta Cave, Point Elizabeth landslide risk. Heavy local downpours can cause Rapahoe Range tomos (Cobden Cross) underground drainage to overflow, causing urban Grey River Gorge & Tainui’s Cave flooding in both Greymouth and Cobden. Saltwater Creek - Welshmans Cave system Cleopatra’s Bath, Limestone Road, West Coast Regional Council Marsden Cave, Marsden The Regional Council is both owner and manager Fireball Ck,Tansey Ck Gorges, Cape Terrace of the Cobden Quarry. In February 2005 it was Whiskey Cave, Cape Terrace announced that the quarry would close and be Stream capture to Tansey Ck, Cape Terrace rehabilitated in conjunction with community group “Progressive Cobden” after remaining Recommended Reading useable rock is removed. This work will markedly improve one gateway to Greymouth. 1. Some Cave and Water Passages in Grey District, HN McLeod, Transactions of NZ Timberlands West Coast Ltd Institute, Vol. XXXVI, pp 479 – 80, 1903 Part of Timberlands pinus radiata plantings at 2. Tales of the Golden West, “Waratah” Cape Terrace is over karst in the Stillwater - (Hindmarsh), 1906: Chap.V, p.46, “A Ride to Fireball and Tansey Creek catchments. Here there Point Elizabeth” are caves, tomos, gorges and a stream capture from one catchment to the other. The company 3. Guiness and His Days, FA Kitchingham, 1965 are aware of the significance of this karst, having 4. Te Ana Puta Cave, Pt Elizabeth, West Coast: M had an assessment of the area made on the DOC Trayes article, NZSS Bulletin Vol 9, No 176, template, and are seeking best practice advice for 1995 future management. Sedimentation of the streams and caves has been a problem in the past. 5. Point Elizabeth, an Example of New Zealand’s Natural Heritage, Mary Trayes, unpublished Mawhera Incorporation – Ngai Tahu Massey Paper, 2000 Mawhera Inc are owners of lower Peter Ridge. 6. Evolution of the New River Drainage System, They have permitted a neighbouring landowner to Westland, Jane Soons article, NZ Journal Geology remove overhanging rock from their land for & Geophysics, 2001, Vol.44 pp 137 –143. safety reasons. Ongoing rock removal at the site has created further instability problems. The Maps rockfall and safety issues here, plus potential for 1. Geological Map, PG Morgan, 1911, NZ uncovering an underground stream, need better Geological Survey management. 2. Greymouth Geological Map & Handbook, Private Landowners Sheet S44, 1:63.360, Simon Nathan 1978, DSIR Many people own properties backing onto the 3. Geology of the Kumara – Moana Area, Map & limestone at Cobden, up the Omotumotu Valley Full Text, Sheets J32 & Part K32, 1:50,000, RP and out through Boddytown to Welshmans and Suggate & T Waight, 1994, GNS. Marsden. Much of this land has been gold-mined, logged and/or farmed without care as to karst 4. Geology of the Greymouth Area, Map & drainage. In the past year local cavers have seen Handbook, Map 12, Q Series, 1:250,000, 2002, domestic rubbish, old cars, dead animals and GNS. sediment from land clearance in tomos and caves. Part II: Island Sandstone Fossils found in the Limestone Road area are Geology Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 16 Proceedings of the 16th ACKMA Conference, Westport, NZ, 2005
An area of cavern forming Island Sandstone lies diverted into the mine, given the large scale of the between the Twelve Apostles - Raphoe Range and mining and the nature of the country. the main Paparoa Range and stretches inland from History the coast at Rapahoe to Dunollie. The cavernously forming area is only a small part of Cavern Cave has been known of since at least the this formation which overlies the Brunner Coal turn of the 20th century. Geologists of the NZ Measures in many places on the West Coast, e.g. Geological Survey of the time were mostly in the Truman Track area at Punakaiki. charged with finding economic resources but maps and reports also included features such as In the Dunollie area Island Sandstone overlies a caves. It is probable that prospectors looking for thin strata of Brunner Coal Measures which in payable coal and some early residents (Runanga turn overlie the various horizons of the Paparoa and Dunollie were built for the coal mining Coal Measures. Coal from both strata has been industry in 1905 –06) also visited Cavern Cave mined over the last 100 years and the general area and perhaps came across other small caves, but has long since been set aside as a State Coal there are very few records of this. Reserve. Currently the area is managed under the Crown Minerals Act by the Ministry for A number of adventurous locals visited the cave Economic Development. during the 1950 - 60s and it was surveyed in the 1970s by members of the Greymouth Caving Island Sandstone is sufficiently calcareous here to Group led by local cave enthusiast, Graham Love. form caves with one cave in particular being quite During the 1980s Greymouth High School large and robust. This is the cave into which the Outdoor Educations students began visiting the waters of Cavern Creek sinks. No resurgence has cave under the guidance of Bill Gilbertson and ever been found for this water although freshwater Marc Paterson and in the early 1990s the Wild springs, which fishermen report offshore at West Adventure Company began using the cave Rapahoe, may be tied in with this. There are also for adventure caving trips. a number of other small, fairly muddy caves including Abbey and Tramway Caves plus Clients of the tour operator are the most frequent sinkholes and tomos. A small unnamed creek visitors to the cave today. School and local use which crosses the upper end of Herd Street is has dropped off as access has become more often dry, its waters having sunk about 500m difficult. Modern safety requirements and the upstream. A spring in the back yard of the last development surrounding the new Spring Creek house on the left in this street may be the Mine mean that vehicles going into the mining resurgence for this water. area must now have flashing lights. Access is further hindered by a length of fencing to keep Anyone prospecting for caves in the area today dogs out to protect kiwi. Those going to the cave will also come across a number of abandoned must have a key to the gate through the fence or mines, numerous drill hole sites where coal take a long detour to go round it. Access to other prospecting has been carried out and the large caves in the area is generally less restricted. development and infrastructure surrounding the large new mine at Spring Creek. Here modern mining techniques are being used to access coals Management Issues from the Paparoa Coal measures underneath the Island Sandstone. It is planned to eventually There are two main management issues at Cavern tunnel underneath Cavern Creek in order to follow Cave. The first is the conflict of interest between the coal down and out under the sea. This has the the two main user groups in the area. Whilst Wild potential to destabilise the overlying strata and West have complied readily with the mining make trips into the cave unsafe. company’s safety requirements about access, there is a real need for more dialogue between the The whole of the Greymouth Coalfield is broken two groups given that expansion of the mine has up by numerous faults trending north-eastwards the potential to destabilise the cave and put the and mining is generally difficult because of this. tour operator out of business. There is potential for water working its way underground via the joint and bedding planes in the cavernously forming Island Sandstone to be Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 16 Proceedings of the 16th ACKMA Conference, Westport, NZ, 2005
A similar lack of empathy by those in mining a NZ State Owned Enterprise, licence to mine industry toward both the environment and cave coal at Dunollie, this being the same area as a users was also shown in an incident during the commercial tour operator, Wild West Adventures, mid 1990s. A drill site was located quite near to takes adventure cave tours. The viability of the the cave entrance but rather than pumping drilling latter enterprise is under threat as the new Spring discharge (as required) to a settling pond, the Creek Mine expands. drillers simply pumped it down the cave, putting cave tour operation out of action for a fortnight and preventing a scheduled visit from the Outdoor Karst & Cave Features Pursuits class at Greymouth High School. Cavern Cave, Dunollie (aka Dragons Cave) The second issue is that of safety of the cave Abbey Road Cave, Tramway Cave tours. Cavern Creek can rise very quickly after Small unnamed caves Rapahoe – James Mine area heavy rain with the potential to trap people in the Stream sink/resurgence Herd Street Dunollie cave. The problem is made worse by the poor communications in the area (no cell ‘phone Recommended Reading coverage). Today whilst the potential still exists, the tour operator has purchased radios to provide 1. The Greymouth Coalfield, Bulletin 45, NZ emergency communications and Coast Cave & Geological Survey, pp 44-46 by Maxwell Gage, Vertical Rescue have an Evacuation Plan for the published DSIR 1952 cave.
Management groups responsible for karst Maps & caves in Island Sandstone: 1. Geological Map, PG Morgan, 1911, NZ Ministry for Economic Development Geological Survey Crown Minerals, within the Ministry for 2.
Greymouth Geological Map & Handbook, Economic Development has issued Solid Energy, Sheet S44, 1:63,360 Simon Nathan, 1978, DSIR
Date of Photo2005Map[1] External LinkCave and Karst ManagementContributorMarie Tern
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Location (city or town)GreymouthEventCave & Karst Management in the Grey District of the West Coast .2005.
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Date Created21st July 2022CommentsBen McCabe
No I'd love to though, don't even know how to find it
Heather Newby
me too
Harry Jensen
Mary Trayes knows the cave systems quite well, she wrote a paper on them. I can't find my copy though
Gabrelle Hart
Been to the Point Elizabeth cave.not the other one though loved it.
No I'd love to though, don't even know how to find it
Heather Newby
me too
Harry Jensen
Mary Trayes knows the cave systems quite well, she wrote a paper on them. I can't find my copy though
Gabrelle Hart
Been to the Point Elizabeth cave.not the other one though loved it.
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West Coast New Zealand History (21st Jul 2022). Cave & Karst Management in the Grey District of the West Coast .2005.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 4th Apr 2026 02:07, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/31331