Pukaki Lagoon, located in the suburb of

Māngere Māngere () or Mangere is one of the largest suburbs in Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau City Centre and 15 kilometres south of ...

, New Zealand, is one of the volcanoes in the

Auckland volcanic field The Auckland volcanic field is an area of monogenetic volcanoes covered by much of the metropolitan area of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, located in the North Island. The approximately 53 volcanoes in the field have produced a diverse a ...

. The lagoon, alongside

Māngere Lagoon Māngere Lagoon is a lagoon in the Manukau Harbour, New Zealand. It occupies a volcanic crater or maar which is part of the Auckland volcanic field. Oval and about 600m long, it has a small restored scoria island remaining in the centre. The la ...

, Waitomokia,

Crater Hill Crater Hill is one of the volcanoes of the Auckland volcanic field, in New Zealand. It consists of an explosion crater about wide, partly filled with water. The hill, alongside Māngere Lagoon, Waitomokia, Kohuora, Pukaki Lagoon and Robertson H ...

Kohuora Kohuora, located in the suburb of Papatoetoe, is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an explosion crater around 600 m wide, 30 m deep and with an irregular V-shape indicating it was formed ...

and

Robertson Hill Robertson Hill (also Sturges Park, Mount Robertson or Te Tapuwae a Mataoho) is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field in New Zealand. It erupted approximately 24,300 years ago. The hill, alongside Māngere Lagoon, Waitomokia, Crater ...

, is one of the volcanic features collectively referred to as Nga Tapuwae a Mataoho ("The Sacred Footprints of

Mataoho Mataaho (also known as Mataaoho and Mataoho) is a Māori deity. Variously considered a god of earthquakes and eruptions, the guardian of the earth's secrets, the god of volcanic forces, or a giant, Mataaho is associated with many of the volcan ...

"), referring to the deity in

Tāmaki Māori Tāmaki Māori are Māori ''iwi'' and ''hapū'' (tribes and sub-tribes) who have a strong connection to Tāmaki Makaurau (the Auckland Region), and whose rohe was traditionally within the region. Among Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau (the M ...

myths who was involved in their creation. Pukaki Lagoon has a 600 m wide explosion crater, with a surrounding tuff ring. After an eruption about 65,000 yrs ago the crater filled with freshwater and became a lake. It was breached by the sea as sea-levels rose after the end of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

about 8,000 yrs ago and became a

tidal lagoon Tidal power or tidal energy is harnessed by converting energy from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity using various methods. Although not yet widely used, tidal energy has the potential for future electricity generation. Ti ...

. This was dammed and drained and used as a speedway from 1929 into the 1930s (Henning's Speedway). It is now farmland.

References

*''City of Volcanoes: A geology of Auckland'' - Searle, Ernest J.; revised by Mayhill, R.D.; Longman Paul, 1981. First published 1964. . *''Volcanoes of Auckland: The Essential Guide''. Hayward, B.W., Murdoch, G., Maitland, G.; Auckland University Press, 2011. *''Volcanoes of Auckland: A Field Guide''. Hayward, B.W.; Auckland University Press, 2019, 335 pp. .

External links

Photo of Henning's Speedway.

held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections. Auckland volcanic field Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board Area {{Auckland-geo-stub