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Geology

Further information: Macquarie fault zone

The island is located on the tectonic plate boundary between the Australian plate to the northwest and the Pacific plate to the southeast. It is part of the Macquarie Ridge, a 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) long fault zone in the oceanic crust, running southwestwards from New Zealand along the plate boundary. The Macquarie Ridge has formed along the plate boundary by movement of the two plates towards each other, leading to uplift along the boundary. However, in earlier geologic time the two plates had been moving apart, allowing lava from the earth's mantle to rise to the seafloor, forming basalt. The subsequent reversal of the movement of the plates has uplifted the basaltic material from the seafloor along the line of the Macquarie Ridge.

The Macquarie ridge lies entirely on the seafloor except for where it rises above sea level at Macquarie Island. The island emerged above sea level in recent geologic time - the highest points on the island may have emerged above the sea as recently as 300,000 years ago or less. The estimates vary based on the assumed rate of uplift and the changes in sea level over time. The unique exposures include excellent examples of pillow basalts without any hint of continental crust contamination. The island is an example of an ophiolite - a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed. The process has been described as "the island itself seems to have been simply squeezed toward the surface like toothpaste from a tube". The unique exposures include excellent examples of pillow basalts without any hint of continental crust contamination and other extrusive rocks. It also is the only oceanic environment with an exposed ophiolite sequence. The geology of the island has been described as revealing "the best exposed and most isolated pieces of the ocean floor in the world".The unique geological exposures were one of the two criteria cited when the island was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

The island lies close to the edge of the submerged continent of Zealandia, but is not regarded as a part of it, because the Macquarie Ridge is oceanic crust rather than continental crust.

Sources

• Rodney Russ; Aleks Terauds (August 2009). Galapagos of the Antarctic: wild islands south of New Zealand. Heritage Expeditions. ISBN 978-0-473-14635-1. OL 24005812M. Wikidata Q124158686.
• P.M. Selkirk; R.D. Seppelt; D.R. Selkirk (2008). Subantarctic Macquarie Island: environment and biology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-07603-6. Wikidata Q131552246.
• Parks and Wildlife Service (2006). "Macquarie Island Nature Reserve and World Heritage Area Management Plan 2006" (PDF). Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Tourism, Arts and the Environment.

Lynch is possibly best known as a conservationist an innovator in conservation planning, pest exclusion fencing and community conservation as the founder of eco-sanctuary Zealandia in Wellington. He wrote a book Zealandia: the valley that changed a nation which told the story of the creation of Zealandia.

Lynch’s innovations in pest exclusion fencing and as the architect of the Karori (Zealandia) eco-sanctuary model have had a significant national impact on conservation in the twenty first century, especially in the growth of fenced eco-sanctuaries and the community conservation movement.

Lynch is best known as a conservationist an innovator in conservation planning, pest exclusion fencing and community conservation as the founder of eco-sanctuary Zealandia in Wellington. He wrote a book Zealandia: the valley that changed a nation which told the story of the creation of Zealandia. He was the President of the Wellington Branch of Forest and Bird from 1991 to 1993.

Lynch’s innovations in pest exclusion fencing and as the architect of the Karori (Zealandia) eco-sanctuary model have had a significant national impact on conservation in the twenty first century, especially in the growth of fenced eco-sanctuaries and the community conservation movement.

He formerly lived in Wellington and now lives in Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast.

Miskelly has been interested in birds since his youth. At the age of 21 he was part of the pioneering work led by Don Merton to save the Chathams black robin from the brink of extinction.