Pariwhero / Red Rocks

Pariwhero has been known to Māori from the earliest times of Māori occupation in the area, with Māori having multiple explanations for the red colour of the rocks.[2] One of these accounts is that the legendary explorer Kupe left the Wellington area, crossing Te Moana-a-Raukawa (Cook Strait) as he left. His long absence caused his relatives to become worried, with one of his daughters leaping from a cliff on the south coast in her distress, staining the rocks below with her blood. In another account, Kupe was gathering the shellfish pāua in the vicinity when one of them clamped his hand and he bled on to the rocks.[3] The area of the rust-coloured rock formations is known as Pariwhero, meaning red rocks.[4]

Pariwhero / Red Rocks has an official dual name as one of the outcomes of the settlement between the Crown and a collective of several local iwi, Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika, for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. The official name was changed from the previous name Red Rocks to the dual name as part of cultural redress included in the Deed of Settlement,[5] and came into effect following the passing of the Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Act 2009.[6]

In addition to the adoption of the dual name Pariwhero / Red Rocks as part of 2009 settlement between the Crown and Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, the Red Rocks Scientific Reserve was also included in a later settlement between the Crown and the iwi Ngāti Toa Rangatira in 2012. The settlement required the Crown to offer Ngāti Toa Rangatira deeds of recognition and statutory acknowledgements to recognise the association of the iwi with specific areas in the Cook Strait region, including the Red Rocks Scientific Reserve.[7][8]

Around 200 million years ago, two portions of the earth's crust, the Pacific plate and the Australian plate began to collide. The Pacific plate began to slide underneath the Australian plate, in a process called subduction. The movement between the two plates caused an accretionary wedge of sediments to build up in the subduction zone. These sediments (or turbidites) came from both the land and material scraped from the seafloor of the subducting plate. As the plates move, they carry with them small basaltic volanoes (called seamounts). When the seamounts are forced into the subduction zone by the movement of the plates, they block the flow of turbidites. On the sheltered side of the seamount, fine sediments built up, and over time, these became red and green siltstones and cherts. As the movement at the plate boundary continued, the seamounts were eventually eroded, leaving basaltic material behind in the sediments.[9]^: 8

The greywacke, coloured siltstones and cherts that can be seen at Pariwhero are from the Triassic period and are approximately 200 million years old. However, the purple basalt rocks are from the Permian period and are around 250 million years old. Therefore, rocks alongside each other at Pariwhero may differ in age by around 50 million years.[10] The ages of the rocks have been established by analysis of specimens of radiolaria obtained from the rocks in the area. Radiolaria are species of plankton that were in the sea when the rocks were being formed.[9]^: 10

Boulder at Red Rocks Scientific Reserve

The complex rock formations result from tectonic pressure, and buckling and folding of the seafloor over millions of years. The basalt and its surrounding sediments became buried beneath 10-14 km of greywacke and subjected to high pressure and temperatures of 250-300 °C, so that the sediments became metamorphic rock. The complex and contorted rocks that were previously deeply buried eventually became uplifted with further tectonic movement until they were raised above sea level as New Zealand was being formed. Erosion has exposed the basalt rocks and the sedimentary rock that surrounds them.

The red rust colours of the rocks at Pariwhero vary, depending on the proportion of iron in the rock and the extent of oxidisation. Iron-rich minerals from the basalt leached into the surrounding sediments during the metamorphic process, so red colours can be found in the sedimentary rocks as well as original basalt volcanic rock. The colour of rocks varies from red to green and grey-brown, depending on the ratio of ferric to ferrous iron compounds in the rock.

Three types of reddish-coloured rocks can be seen at the site:[11]

• brick-red argillite (mudstone) - this is the most common type of red rock
• brownish-red basalt lavas - typically with pillow shapes that indicate they were formed in an underwater eruption
• pinkish-red cherts of Permian age - these are some of the oldest rocks in the North Island

In 1971, a small strip of 0.52 hectares (1.3 acres) of coastline was set aside under the Reserves Act 1977 for protection of the area as the Red Rocks Scientific Reserve.[12] The site has been classified as nationally significant, and of high educational and scientific importance. The reserve provides examples of a wide range of rock formations and geological processes that are representative of the earliest stages in the formation of New Zealand.[13]

Red Rocks walkway

Access to the Red Rocks Scientific Reserve is via a gravel walking track on a raised beach platform, approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the Te Kopahou Reserve visitor centre in Ōwhiro Bay.[11]

A novel for children, Red Rocks, written by Rachael King uses the rocks on the Wellington south coast as a setting.[14] The novel was shortlisted for the Junior Fiction category in the 2013 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards[15] and won the LIANZA Esther Glen Award.[16]

• Wellman, H.W. (1948–49). "Pillow lava at Red Rock Point, Wellington". Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 77 (2): 306–312 – via Papers Past.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Red Rocks Scientific Reserve.

• Pariwhero / Red Rocks at Wellington City Council