Abstract:
Upper Ordovician Arthur Marble and Oligocene Takaka Limestone contain extensive phreatic cave systems beneath the Takaka valley and Golden Bay. Half of all water flows in the Takaka valley pass through subterranean drainage conduits in carbonate rock. New Zealand's largest freshwater springs, the Waikoropupu Springs, are one surface expression of these karst systems. Other characteristics are dolines and submarine springs. A paleocave system developed in the Arthur Marble during the formation of the northwest Nelson peneplain in the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary. Subsequent subsidence of the peneplain, and deposition of Motupipi Coal Measures, Takaka Limestone, and Tarakohe Mudstone, was followed by folding and faulting of the sequence in the Kaikoura Orogeny. Uplift and erosion in the Pleistocene brought the two carbonate rock formations within reach of groundwater movements. The paleocave system in Arthur Marble was reactivated during periods of glacial, low sea levels, and a smaller cave system formed in the overlying Takaka Limestone. Both systems interact and extend to more than 100 m below present sea level, forming the Arthur Marble - Takaka Limestone aquifer