Māngere Lagoon is a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

in the

Manukau Harbour The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea. Geography The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burnett ...

, New Zealand. It occupies a volcanic crater or

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

which is part of 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 divers ...

. Oval and about 600m long, it has a small restored

scoria Scoria or cinder is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock formed by ejection from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains called clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackso ...

island remaining in the centre.

Geography

Māngere Lagoon erupted an estimated 59,500 years before the present, predating the adjacent

Māngere Mountain Māngere Mountain, also known by the names Te Pane-o-Mataaho and Te Ara Pueru, is a volcanic cone in Māngere, Auckland. Located within Māngere Domain, it is one of the largest volcanic cones in the Auckland volcanic field, with a peak above ...

. Approximately 7,000 years ago, the crater became a tidal lagoon due to rising sea levels. The crater dome became a small island within the tidal estuary.

History

The lagoon, alongside 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 Kohuora, located in the ...

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. Geology and geography The Kohuora complex is a freshwater wetland found in a tuff ring, that has an explo ...

, Pukaki Lagoon and Robertson Hill, 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. In the 1930s efforts were made to drain the swamp for conversion to

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

, while in the late 1950s, earthworks for sewage

sludge Sludge (possibly , or some dialect related to slush) is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. It can be produced as a settled sus ...

ponds in the lagoon removed the scoria cone and the crater was divided into ponds.''Māngere Lagoon'' - ''City of Fire'', insert magazine in ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...

'', Friday 15 February 2008 Public demand for a better sewage treatment system eventually led to a land-based facility, and in 2003, the restoration of the area to a tidal lagoon was completed, with the sludge removed. The scoria cone was rebuilt with an extra flat portion added on the west side as an artificial bird roost.''Redemption near for Puketutu'' - ''City of Fire'', insert magazine in ''

'', Friday 15 February 2008''Volcanoes of Auckland: The Essential Guide'' - Hayward, B.W., Murdoch, G., Maitland, G.; Auckland University Press, 2011. The shores of the lagoon are restored with native bush, replacing pine forests.

References

External links

Photographs of Māngere Lagoon
held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mangere Lagoon Auckland volcanic field Lagoons of New Zealand Maars of New Zealand Manukau Harbour Landforms of the Auckland Region Volcanoes of the Auckland Region Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board Area Wetlands of the Auckland Region

Geography

History

References

Further reading

External links