The Maruia River is located in the northwestern

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

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 ...

. It is a major tributary of the

Buller River The Buller River ( mi, Kawatiri) is a river in the South Island of New Zealand. One of the country's longest rivers, it flows for from Lake Rotoiti through the Buller Gorge and into the Tasman Sea near the town of Westport. Within the Bulle ...

, flowing for 80 km before joining the larger river eight kilometres to the west of Murchison. Maruia Falls 27

The Maruia River rises in the

Spenser Mountains The Spenser Mountains is a topographic landform in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern end of the Nelson Lakes National Park and north of the Lewis Pass they form a natural border between the Canterbury and Tasman ...

, travelling first to the southwest before turning north for the last 50 km of its length. In its upper reaches, the river's valley forms the western approach to the

Lewis Pass Lewis Pass (el. 907 m.) is a mountain pass in the South Island of New Zealand. The northernmost of the three main passes across the Southern Alps, it is higher than the Haast Pass, and slightly lower than Arthur's Pass. State Highway 7 traver ...

, the northernmost of the three main mountain passes across the

Southern Alps The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern ...

. Hot springs are to be found close to the river in its upper reaches, and the spa of Maruia Springs is located five kilometres to the west of the Lewis Pass, 50 km southeast of

Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63 ...

. 3 km east of Springs Junction, the Maruia River flows through the deep and narrow Sluice Box gorge. The river cuts through a band of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

amongst the otherwise predominant

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke (German ''grauwacke'', signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lit ...

. The Sluice Box, at the junction with the Alfred River, separates the upper and middle section of the Maruia Valley. The area offers a

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

campsite and is the start of the Lake Daniell Track.

Further downstream, 8 kilometres southwest of Murchison, the Maruia Falls were created by the

1929 Murchison earthquake The 1929 Murchison earthquake occurred at 10:17 am on 17 June. It struck the Murchison region of the South Island, with an estimated magnitude of 7.3, and was felt throughout New Zealand. There were 17 deaths, mostly as a result of landsli ...

when a slip blocked the original channel.

References

External links

Buller District Rivers of the West Coast, New Zealand Rivers of the Tasman District Rivers of New Zealand {{WestCoastNZ-river-stub