Untitled

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2407, 21 March 1922, Page 4

Bemarkable evidence of the devastation caused among the surrounding rimu forests by an eruption centuries ago is afforded by a landslide winch has occurred within the last few weeks near Rotorua. The erosion of a river having undermined a high bank, a slip on the cliffside reveals rimu trees, about 3ft.’ in diameter buried under 30 or 40ft. of pumice soil. The trees are piled upon one another as though swept down by a huge flood and then buried. The wood is in excellent condition, and is being used neighbouring farmers for" fencing. The trees buried near the surface on the high land have long ago turned into charcoal, but those in the moist soil protected from the atmosphere are silent witnesses to the awful power that must have swept them into the valley with vplcanic ash. At Waiotapti, on the Taupo Road, 30 miles from Rotorua, heavy rains and floods have laid bare a buried rimu forest, and exposed about 6ft. of upright trunks, which are so petrified that they turn the edge of an axe and cannot be cut.