The Wellington Post Fascinating Wellington Wellington is New Zealand’s second largest urban area in the country. It is also known as “Windy Wellington”, because of it has extremely windy weather for much of the year. This city is home to 450,000 residents. It is full of mountains, volcanoes and is a scientist’s wildest dream because it is the world’s leading center for the study of earthquakes.
The Economy of Wellington New Zealand’s economy has mostly been based on exports from the area. These are mostly agricultural exports such as fish and fruits. They also are leading manufactures in food processing, metal fabrication, and paper products. New Zealand has close economic relations with Australia and in 2005 was named the friendliest trading country in the world. Tourism is a large part of their economy as well. Many people come to wellington each year to see its beautiful mountain ranges.
Wellingtons Geological Past and Present New Zealand’s geological history can be divided into three periods of sedimentation and three periods of building. It began with the Cambrian to Devonian period (545 to 370 million years) which the earliest rock formation was taking place and was the beginning of what is now known as New Zealand. At that time volcanic islands would build up only to be covered with sand and mud and get pushed back down under the water. Next was the Devonian to Carboniferous period (370 to 330 million years ago) where the sea floor sediments were pushed up and melted to form mountains. Under heat and pressure rocks were changed into new materials such as sandstones becoming schist. During the next period, the Carboniferous to Jurassic (330 to 142 million years ago) the sediment continuously thickened depositing rocks forming much of the foundation of New Zealand. During the Early Cretaceous period (142 to 99 million years ago) sediments were compressed and folded to form mountains. Seafloor rocks can be seen today on mountain tops. After that came the Cretaceous and Oligocene Period (99 to 24 million years ago). Tons of weathering and erosion occurred as well as the sea floor spreading causing the country to be submerged. Lastly the
Miocene to Quaternary period (24 million years ago to modern), during this time period tectonic plates moved forming mountain ranges on both islands giving New Zealand its current shape. The Pacific plate subducted causing volcanoes on the north island. It continued to move until it reached its present location along the Taupo Volcanic Zone.
Wellington Learns a Lesson New Zealand is located on a convergent boundary where the Australian tectonic plate rides over the Pacific plate. A convergent boundary is when an earth tectonic plate slides over an ocean plate. This can cause the forming of volcanoes which are found everywhere in the area of New Zealand. Three of the world’s largest fault lines are found in this area. They are the Wellington, Ohariu, and Wairarapa fault lines. In 1855 an earthquake that scored 8.2 on the Richter scale devastated the town. Most of the buildings, homes, and roads were destroyed. Since then there have been many more earthquakes. After these events the town’s leaders learned a good lesson about the power of earthquakes and developed a 3 step emergency plan to help the residents cope for when disasters occur. They have told their residents that in a disaster help may not reach them for at least 3 days. The first thing they told people to do was to make sure they have enough water. Secondly, keep an emergency kit filled with non-perishable foods, flashlights, blankets, and a first aid kit. Lastly, make sure all
members of the family know the household emergency plan and they have a designated place to meet when a disaster occurs. Town residents are now warned when an earthquake is coming through the use of special trucks and helicopters that are mounted with speakers warning them ahead of time so that they can keep themselves safe.
A Great Place to Live In a quality survey taken in 2007, Wellington was 12th out of 215 cities in the world as most liveable. The city is small and easily accessible with daily commuters traveling 30 minutes or less. Wellington is known for its fresh thinking and innovation. The residents of Wellington are very highly trained and educated and have higher incomes. The city is diverse having many cultures and is perfect for single people and families alike. For recreation there’s mountain biking, fishing, snow skiing, festivals, theaters, galleries, restaurants, and shops. Overall Wellington is a great place to live and have fun!
Bibliography
"Wellington : Earthquakes." Wellington City Libraries - Website Homepage. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. <http://www.wcl.govt.nz/heritage/earthquakes.html>.
"Wellington Earthquake - 1855 - New Zealand Disasters - Kids." Christchurch City Libraries. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. <http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/kids/nzdisasters/eqwellington1855.asp>.
"Emergency Management - Prepare for an Emergency - Wellington - New Zealand." Wellington City Council - New Zealand. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. <http://www.wellington.govt.nz/services/emergencymgmt/preparedness/preparedness.html>.
"Wellington." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington>.
17 Jan. 2012 <http://sci.waikato.ac.nz/evolution/geologicalHistory.shtml>.