:''There are two places in New Zealand called Heretaunga. For the suburb of Upper Hutt, see

Heretaunga, Wellington Heretaunga is a suburb of the city of Upper Hutt, located in the lower (southern) North Island of New Zealand. The settlement, one of the older suburbs in the Hutt Valley, dates from the 1840s when European settlers sought country sections. A ...

.'' The Heretaunga Plains is a alluvial plain at the southern end of

Hawke Bay Hawke Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui), formerly named ''Hawke's Bay'', is a large bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, surrounded by the Hawke's Bay region. It stretches from Māhia Peninsula in the northeast to Cape Kidnap ...

on the east coast of the North Island of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The towns of Napier,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and

Havelock North Havelock North ( mi, Te Hemo-a-Te Atonga) is a town in the Hawke's Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand, situated less than 2 km south-east of the city of Hastings. It was a borough for many years until the 1989 reorganisation of loca ...

are on the plain. The plain was formed over the last 250,000 years from

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...

deposited by the Tutaekuri, Ngaruroro and

Tukituki River The Tukituki River is found in the eastern North Island of New Zealand. It flows from the Ruahine Ranges to the Pacific Ocean at the southern end of Hawke's Bay. The river flows for , east and then northeast, passing through the town of Waip ...

s and from coastal marine deposits. It consists of layers of gravel, sand and silt. Permeable gravel beds form

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...

s and the artesian

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...

provides 85% of the requirements for public water supply, irrigation and industrial use on the Heretaunga Plains and adjacent areas. The fertile soil, the warm, dry climate of the area, and the water for irrigation make the plain an excellent site for horticulture and agriculture. Half of the total New Zealand production of fruit, vegetables and grapes is on the Heretaunga Plains. It is one of New Zealand's leading

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

producing areas. The Heretaunga Plains are named after a carved

wharenui A wharenui (; literally "large house") is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a ''marae''. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called ''whare'' ( ...

(meeting house) at Whatonga, and

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

migrating south have taken the name with them and given it to a watercourse now known as the Hutt River.

References

Landforms of the Hawke's Bay Region Plains of New Zealand {{HawkesBay-geo-stub