Waitematā Sandstone - the Awesome Bedrock of Auckland 

I wish my year 13 geo teacher had this level of genuine interest and fascination, instead of showing us 25 year old power point presentations

This man needs to be on mainstream NZ TV

Im not gonna look at them the same way next time im walking in stanmore bay. I pity anyone else walking with me.. I think i will start with "Did you know...." Thanks so much for your awesome video!

A Brit. here, interested in Earth Sciences. New Zealand is fascinating for geology as the many features are often so accessible, easier than in the UK. I spotted some very clear, not too difficult to interpret features, when I spent two months travelling around both your lovely islands. Many thanks for the clear demonstration and explanation.

You are a national treasure. I love you videos because every time I watch one I learn more about the geology of our country.

Bruce was enthusiastic 35 years ago! Great to see him still in action!

I'm so glad you posted this. I've been intrigued by the cut away hills on the new section of motorway between Orewa and Warkworth and this video explains these formations. Cheers.

You are an excellent teacher!

A few years ago I came to NZ for the first time from northern Europe. Traveled little around on the country side. Remember when strolling in the water checking small rocks, I saw this kind of layers in one bay. Couldn't understand how they were formed. Great to finally get an explanation, thank you.

Thank you for that fascinating video. I love geology but never studied it so it's a privilege to get a free lesson 😃👍

The David Attenborough of New Zealand. I could listen all day.

Fascinating. I am learning so much about our geology via these videos. Thanks for posting!

Brilliant!

fantastic, thank you.

I love going out there Learning in these videos, thank you for posting :)

What a fantastic video, thankyou! It explained things I'd wondered about while visiting and climbing around the beaches and cliffs round Howick, Mellons Bay, Eastern Beaches

Scott’s landing near mahurangi has some awesome diagonal or folded layers

Thanks for covering this. I grew up in Point Chevalier, Auckland. The whole "Point" is surrounded by coastal cliffs just like those you showed at Stanmore Bay. (Where I holidayed in my childhood in the late 50s/early 60s.) This geology is so familiar to me, but not its origin. I used to try and see if I could find and break out the largest pieces of those thinner red layers, which were shown but not specifically mentioned.

Thanks for these excellent videos. Your explanations are so interesting and easy to understand

You're the type of guy I'd love to bring on a road trip because I'm always wondering how cool rocks ended up that way.

great video, you make this much easier to understand when I look at those layers

loved having picnics here. always enjoyed following the folds of the rock with my eyes, as well as playing in the rock pools (naughty naughty!

Wow, that was truely fascinating. I will never walk my local Auckland beach again without stopping to admire and contemplate the cliff formations. Wish you were my 3rd form teacher back in the 90's!

Well explained. I feel like I have a better understanding now. Those huge folds are impressive.

So interesting, I spent lots of time walking round Stanmore bay cliffs. Thanks

Thank you so much. This is brilliant. I 😂pull love to see a video about the geology of mangawhai and the volcanoes around there, the lava collums and how the white sands got there from the waitako river through the Thames way back.

Thanks Bruce, l really appreciate you and your team explaining the geology we see around us. Great work! There are interesting folds in the cliffs around Castor Bay that I had assumed were caused by the Lake Pupuke volcano, but I can see now that they would have been there before it.

Petrology, sedimentology, plate tectonics, weathering and erosion. I first learned about these sciences at school 55 years ago and very valuable they have been too (as a professional archaeologist), in helping to differentiate between archaeological and geological topographical features. Especially in the UK, where such phenomenon can be confusing. Having said that, I'd love to examine your very own Kaimanawa Wall for myself, one day.

Pretty sure i've heard these rocks referred to as "Waitemata chaos series" previously, due to the shear number of folds, faults and unusual beding planes :) It's also worth mentioning (while only brushed on by the video) that the darker colours and large, angular cobbles are mostly "volcaniclastic" sediments and grits from the Northland volcanic arc; the dark colour is due to ash, scoria, pumice and basalt.

Outstanding I'll head over the bridge and take a look. Love the explanation of how the larger coarse aggregates fall out of suspension first and you can re orientate good old what's up, and what was down. It always tells a story . I've read a few books, but your efforts have brought it to life, so thank you and keep the videos coming as I have subscribed . Regards Kris

Awesome video. Would like to see more about NZ above and below water.

Enjoyed the video! We were running along the coast from Long Bay to Takapuna. Great to imagine the geological processes that went on over the years!

I live in Mairangi Bay, often walked past the cliffs. They look more stable than they really are. Since I arrived in Auckland in 1971 - ive also noticed 'Watchman Island' [a hunk of rock and some plants] close to the south side of the Harbour Bridge, getting smaller and smaller. One day it will have eroded away. LOL taking the human harbour bridge with it !! 😂

Loving these. Keep it up.

Beautiful geology. I enjoyed this excursion & lesson very much. There's some similar gravel & silt features here in Hawkes Bay, will be looking at them with a different eye now! I found some white clay with pumice in it, is that from Taupo or did it float there when the land was at sea level? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Loved this so interesting thank you

Such an interesting series of videos, keep them coming

Great video as always! I'd like to see a video about the Mohaka Fault - the northernmost extension of the Wellington Fault. I'd like to know when it last ruptured and what the approximate average return-time is between its ruptures. I'm also keen to know if it may have been a Mohaka Fault rupture that created Lake Waikaremoana (which was formed due to the creation of a landslide-dam - presumably created in a huge quake).

Amazing!

Enlightning explanation of folds, grain size orientation of up/down, etc. Anticlines, syncline explanaton brought back memories of when I took geology in Pasadena, CA, with San Andreas Fault nearby. Howhere at that time the theory of plate tectonics had not been elcidated..... it's been an exciting ride as science provided explanations. And now in 2017 a new continent Zealandia!

Really informative... this series on NZ geology is really fascinating. We live on the Shaky (foldy) isles indeed

So good! Thank you Bruce!

Super interesting. Dad has a place in Waiwera, and i asked him about the rocks at Waiwera Beach, but he is a boat builder and boiler maker not a geologist, so he wasn't able to go into as much detail. 25 years later and a video about similar rocks not far down the coast explains it beautifully.

Absolutely love Dr Hayward's teaching style. something about his enthusiasm really captivates my attention; without any pretension or grandeur he's revealing a legible record of history hidden in the illegible mess of rocks and dirt. a true "science communicator." Neil DeGrasse Tyson ain't got nothing on Bruce Hayward!

Amazing! I always wondered about these cliffs

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you 😊

This is my childhood stomping ground, so many summers spent hopping between rocks at the base of these cliffs and scrambling up amongst the pohutukawa and flax clinging to the steep sides. The fragility of this land is remarkable, seeing the way an entire hillside slips away makes me doubt the supposed antiquity of the layers. The earthquake faults stand as testament to the violent past of this green land. And what about the weirdly deep layers that are just an amalgam of everything - like a tsunami of mud has been deposited all at once.....makes you wonder.

Great stuff! Now I know. 🤔 Thank you.

If only this was on YT when I studied geology at UoA 😭

Thanks for sharing. Will have a different respect for the cliffs as I walk the bays now. Interesting stuff! Glad I found this

Thank you! So many times I've looked at rock formations wondering how they formed or where they came from. I need a pocket geologist for my questions whenever I go on trips.

I'm a glider pilot and it's always great to see the countryside from above (sometimes not very above), while having it explained like this helps complete an overall picture.

One area I find fascinating, geologically wise is when driving through the Awakino Gorge, that stretch of road that weaves through those high cliffs of different coloured rock. I always pull over and wonder about how it was formed. Ive tried finding information on line but theres not allot about it. The Waitomo CAves Museum has some good info but thats about it.

Awesome video! Cool to learn how to see the history of the land I grew up around

Fabulous detailed information there. Thanks so much for that.

Geology 101, thank you so much

I live on the Hibiscus coast! Thank you for sharing this with such knowledge and enthusiasm! You rock 🪨 ;) (pun intended)!

Feb this year i was on the northern side of long bay reserve just south of stanmore bay. I noticed the different colored layers in the cliffs and wondered how long in the past I was looking at. Now I know 😃

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. 👍

That was facinating.

So good!

That fold is how Dali would paint a landscape.

Cheers man, that was really interesting.

Very similar to the eastern side of Buckland's Beach peninsula, almost identical. Great video.

Just went to Kawhia and saw diagonally slanted cliffs at albatross point. Thanks for the explanation.

this is mind-blowing. cheers from avondale

Fascinating, thank you very much for the education. I felt like I was back at high school or uni with an excellent teacher or lecturer. 10/10. Will try to visit that double fold at some point soon. :-)

Thank you this is so very informative l love these videos about my nz my country 😊

I recognized the beach from very first frame,my favorite beach on the hbc,my dad lived just up the rd

One of my favourite drives was from Waikeretu north to Port Waikato. At Waikertu there are these layered rocks I guess formed by layers of marine deposition. Further north there are what I think are collapsed (Limestone?) sinkholes that form these large 'ampitheater' like structures. Closer to Port Waitako you can see these rounded almost spherical bubbles in the cliffs, limestone erosion perhaps? I ran off the road into a ditch and asked a local farmer to tractor me out & he asked me what I was doing there. I mentioned the rock formations and said 'oh so your a geolgist then?', No sorry just a bewildered amateur. I would love some explanation of what I saw on my drives.

How do the grains of sand in the sand stone stick together? If i filled a bucket with sand, turned it over, removed the bucket and then poured water on the sand, it would be easily eroded. Why hasn't the sandstone been eroded?

Thank you so much for explaining these beautiful folds and bends in the landscape. Isn't nature powerful!!!

Petrified wood of ancient giant trees 💚

See the load casts in the bed to left also at 4:26

Very interesting to me. I have spent quite a bit of time observing and pondering that coastal area. Great to have some real analysis and time frames to add.. Do you have any ideas about the volcanic scoria conglomerate (or as you would more properly call them) that you see as layers in those cliffs? I think I have seen meter plus thick layers at Army bay and Wenderholme and possibly seen more widely. Its been a few years since I lived in the district but I remember wondering about where the volcanics would have come from.

Great video. New subscriber here!

Hello awesome information on our beautiful Country. Am just wondering if you might get a chance to talk about Great Barrier Island. Please. Thank you.

Hello Dr. Bruce! I'm currently in Auckland for a short course at UoA. One thing I noticed when I was in the plane was the linear features at the western coast of the North Island. Is there any reason why this is almost perfectly straight for hundreds of kilometers? I quickly checked the geology around the area and I haven't seen any NW trending faults in the area. Love your videos, by the way!

What kind of events would cause such a dramatic change in geological structure? E.g earthquake? or is this just constantly happening under our feet without us noticing?

I liked the part about the frakcha.

Does the varying thickness of the sandsones give us any information about the depostional environment? Or is the thickness just a random feature of the flow path?

hi just found you , great video . just a thought , i'm a Aussie , if you know that the same thing is here , please let us Aussies know where to look. it makes it far more understandable . and i have seen similar formations here but lol can't remember now were they are . keep up the good work , i also subscribed . THANKS

Found a coal branch in one of those cliffs, haven't found one since

Theres some o f these in thej kaipara on little islands they kind of look like trees up home but theyrem definitely these😂

When I heard your voice I thought you might have been Te Radar's (Andrew Lumsden) Uncle or at least from the same area where he grew up.

What is the age of the stone that you are standing on thanks

It may be worth emphasising that the deformation of this sandstone was due to gravity slide/slump, not compressive tectonic deformation.

Hertled up down at speed more than 2,3km at heat as well from looks off it

A question please - wasn't there once a mighty meteor impact in the south Indian Ocean, that sent massive tsunami waves across the Tasman? Collided with Northland, rolled straight over it? Created 90 mile beach? I think there were also earthquakes and eruptions from the Kermadics that would have rolled straight into the Hauraki Gulf and surrounding cliffs? A turbulent history in these islands ...

Is it the same as in the northern manukau?

What is the speed of erosion on the 800 m of stone above that eroded?

Waitemata rock is weak and unstable. Be careful around it.

2:34 10cm per 1000 years How long 2m mudstone? 20.000years? Really? Maybe 200.000?

10cm/1000years +/- 1000 years.

Dam Say the place names right

Ever heard of meltology?

How much of this is speculation?

No - this is Heresy - God created the Heavens and the Earth, this is due to the world wide flood of Noah - research - Dr Hugh Owen, the Kobe Centre for real science ❤

Thank you for more proof of Noah's flood.

I love New Zealand... It's the only place I've ever been to that felt like home. ❤ Wish Id's moved there 20 years ago.