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A Lost Glory, Found

July 7, 2012

An underwater camera and lighting system devised by WHOI scientist Dan Fornari recently revealed part of the long-lost Pink Terraces near the bottom of Lake Rotomahana, New Zealand. The Pink Terraces and neighboring White Terraces were geothermal formations that had been known as the eighth natural wonder of the world. They disappeared during an immense volcanic eruption in 1886 and have been the subject of speculation ever since: Were they destroyed? Submerged? Buried by ash? In 2011 WHOI researchers Fornari, Amy Kukulya, and Robin Littlefield used REMUS vehicles to help map the lake floor and identify portions of the long-missing terraces.(Photo by Dan Fornari, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)