Foulden Maar (Middlemarch) Dunedin City, South Island, New Zealand
By U.N.C.L.E. on 18-Jul-21. Waypoint GA22906

Cache Details

Difficulty:
Terrain:
Type:	Traditional
Container:	Small
Coordinates:	S45° 31.326' E170° 13.384' (WGS 84)
	59G 439324E 4958754N (UTM)
Elevation:	385 m
Local Government Area:	Otago

Map

Whodunit State

Description

Foulden Maar was in the news a great deal in 2019.

It is the only known maar of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and is of international scientific interest. A maar is a broad, shallow crater, typically filled by a lake, formed by a volcanic eruption with little lava. Foulden Maar is believed to have formed 23 million years ago. The crater lake then filled with diatomite, composed of layers of algae, and fossils of plants, fishes and insects from the surrounding sub-tropical forest. This maar apparently contains valuable information for scientists researching climate change.

Therefore, when plans were announced to mine the diatomite for fertilizer, there was a huge uproar. It seems these plans are now shelved and moves are afoot to protect the site.

News reports of these proposals always seemed to be accompanied by a syndicated photograph that appears to have been taken from the vicinity of the cache.

200ml snaplock. BYOP.

Hints

Ba n ynetr syng ebpx, pbirerq ol n fznyyre ebpx.

ROT 13:	ABCDEFGHIJKLM
	NOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Decode

Logs

12-Nov-23

U.N.C.L.E.

Called by today and replaced the container and logsheet as well as the stash note to reflect that this is a Geocaching Australia cache. Therefore this cache now has no relationship to the former cache at this location that was published on another platform and any double logs won't be accepted from now on, sorry.

08-Oct-23

i-gotit

I had several hours to kill between dawn and making an airport pickup so the best thing to do was to geocache. It's been a while since I've picked up the token one or two in the Middlemarch area and why not see what there is on the Australian Geocaching website as well as the other. I understood from a previous finder that the logbook for the archived cache from the other website was still here and yes, another archived cache under my belt. I made sure that my name was under both geocaching names. about 50 years ago when still in high school I visited the site with the Balclutha Rockhound Club. If I remember correctly the texture was like talc. Thanks for this cache.

Rated: for Overall Experience

09-Sep-23

daywalk

After getting back to Middlemarch early afternoon and finding an icecream, we drove out along Moonlight Road to view Foulden Maar. A farmer went by and checked that nothing was wrong... we indicated that we were up on the rock to get a photo... Added our name twice on the logbook - first for the archived cache (cheeky!) then again for this cache after putting in the Aussie cache code.

18-Jul-21

U.N.C.L.E.

This cache is using a recycled logbook. Simply disregard anything in the log dated before 18 July 2021. I will be dropping in a fresh logbook at the earliest opportunity.

18-Jul-21

U.N.C.L.E.

Published