Studies of a Southern Fiord
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ISSN 2538-1016; 17 NEW ZEALAND DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH BULLETIN 157 STUDIES OF A SOUTHERN FIORD Edited by T. M. SKERMAN New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir No. 17 1964 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ NEW ZEALAND DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH BULLETIN 157 STUDIES OF A SOUTHERN FIORD Edited by T. M. SKERMAN New Zealand Oceanographic Institute New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir No. 17 1964 Price 17s. 6d. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ FOREWORD THE results reported in this Memoir have come from studies, carried out by workers in a number of different disciplines, on various aspects of the one problem-the nature of the marine environment in a south-west coast fiord. A number of the influences that complicate the open water marine environment are absent in Milford Sound, other influences are diminished or increased. With these differences from the usual marine situation, the influence of one or other variable on the organic regime can be more readily determined. The cruise was organised and led by Mr T. M. Skerman and the present volume results from his further work in bringing the results together. The cruise was made possible by the assistance of the New Zealand Naval Board in providing the use of RNZFA Tui and thanks are due to her master and officers for their cooperation during the investigation. The figures illustrating this Memoir have been drawn under the supervision of Mr C. T. T. Webb, Chief Cartographer, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The material has been finally edited for publication by Mr M. O'Connor, Information Bureau, D.S.I.R. J. W. BRODIE, Director, New Zealand Oceanographic Institute. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ it I ,__ ,_ _,c. -,_ -� or• HAH. J'1.,ur llos:ua,nc;:.4............ I· .HrVl!."H: :.:::�_'._-._.: I ,,r, --+-- . I .,.J1-- _,.,·., · I "' - -�-- -l- . ...�·- -'""":' .. Sf. l>"i ...... - ·.I I ...{ _____!:E --·,,.-,..- - • . -�--- � ---------Y- I Chart of New Zealand, prepared by Lieutenant Thomas McDonnell and published in 1834 by James Wyld, Geographer to the King. (Milford Haven is the inlet on the south-western coast of •the South Island at latitude 44 ° 30'.) Reproduced by courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Library. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ HISTORICAL NOTE ON MILFORD SOUND THE earliest printed chart identifying Milford is one published in 1834 by Wyld and attributed to Lieut. Thomas McDonnell, RN, "from original survey". On this, which is reproduced here by permission of the Turnbull Library, appears the name Milford Haven. Though currently listed among archives as an Admiralty document, publication of McDonnelrs chart does not appear to have been authorised by the Admiralty as an Admiralty chart. As it reflects much of the maps by certain of the early explorers in1 New Zealand, its authority has frequently been questioned. An early critic was Peter Dillon , who had seen a great deal of the South Seas in the early part of the nineteenth century, and who asserted that McDonnell, an assistant to the official British Resident al Hokianga, had procured his material from the charts of Cook and d'Urville and from Dupcrry's Hydrographic Atlas, and had promoted it as his own. Certainly the inset of DuskyReso/111io11's Bay (Dusky Sound) bears a striking resemblance to Cook's chart prepared during visit there in 1772 and published in 1777. lt seems likely then that McDonnell's contribution was substantially a compilation of other surveys, acknowledgmcnt of which he chose to avoid, and which doubtless may have been broadened by the descriptions and sketches obtained from seamen familiaCoquille,r with less frequented sectors of New Zealand's coast. A senior midshipman on Duperry's ship M. Jules de Blosseville, of whose own map2 of the Chalky Bay area incidentally McDonnell appears to have been unaware, wrote in 1823 of the recent discovery of "Milford Sound'' (sic)4 3 then known to only a few sea captains. One of these sea captains who has been given as a possible person to have conferred the name is Captain Peter Williams, whose birthplace was in Milford Haven in Wales and who was known to have been whaling round the west coast of Otago in the twenties of last century. Recent historical researches* indicate, however, that another likely discoverer of Milford could have been John Grono, a sealer who was born in Wales, and who is known to have worked in these waters prior to 1823. Other names of geographic features of the region, Mt. Pembroke, Llawrenny Peaks, Cleddau Valley, are also suggestive of a Welsh association. Some of these and other Achero11locality names may have followed the hydrographic survey by Captain Stokes of HMS which resulted in 1851 in the first 5detailed chart of the whole fiord therein called Milford Sound. Stokes comments in his diary "The helmsman who first penetrated into this deep water seems to have retained but an imperfect recollection of the celebrated haven of his native land after which he thought proper to name if'. It is a tribute to the skill of Stokes and his companions in their execution of the comm1ss1on entrusted them by the Admiralty that this chart (Admiralty Chart 615), with only minor amendments, is in use today after the passing of over a century. BETTY N. KREBS, N.Z. Oceanographic lnstitute. 1 N.Z. JouRNAL. 5 Dec 1840. p. 294. ii'JLOSSEVILLE, JULES ALPHONSE RENE PORET, 1823: Essai sur NouvellesJes moeur sAnnales et Jes coutumes des voyages, des dehabitants la geographie de la partie et de me /'histoire,ridionale Parisde Tavai-Poenamou. 29. In 3 McNAB, ROBERT, 1909: "Murihuku", new ed. Wellington, Whilcombe and Tombs, pp. 330-5. 1 Otago Daily Times, 5BEATTlE, JAMES BERRIES, ]950: "Far Famed Fiordland''. Dunedin. p. 7. STOKES, J. L., Diary. MS. microfilm copy deposited in Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. *Carried out by Mr F. Hall-Jones, of 1nvercargill, who has kindly supplied the information. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ CONTENTS Page No. 11 INTRODUCTION, by T. M. Skerman ..... STATION UST 13 THE FIORDLAND SHELF AND MILFORD SOUND, by J. W. Brodie 15 Introduction 15 Materials ...... 15 Bathymetry of Milford Sound 15 Southern Fiordland Shelf and Slope 15 Shelf and Slope ofT Milford Sound 19 The Slope Valleys 19 Morphological Features of Milford Sound 19 Age of Shelf Formation 21 Acknowledgments 23 References 23 THE HYDROLOGY OF MILFORD SOUND, by D. M. Garner 25 Introduction 25 Factors Determining Water Properties 27 Freshwater Inflow 27 Bottom Topography 28 Tides 28 Discussion 28 AlertTui Stations 28 Investigations 29 Flushing of Stirling Basin 32 Acknowlcdgments 33 References 33 SEDIMENTATION IN MILFORD SOUND, by H. M. Pantin 35 Introduction 35 Description of Sediments 35 Stirling Basin 35 Entrance Sill and Entrance Basin 44 Sedimentation 44 Stirling Basin 44 Entrance Sill and Entrance Basin 47 Acknowledgments ...... 47 References 47 FORAMJNIFERA OF MILFORD SOUND, by S. Kustanowich 49 Introduction 49 Previous Work ..... 49 Location and Description of Area 49 Stations 50 Method of Study 50 Hydrological Conditions 50 Sediments 51 Foraminiferal Studies 51 Distribution ...... 51 Distributional Trends 55 Fauna! Zones .... 57 Distribution of Individual Species . .... 57 Significance of Variation in Concentration of Foraminifera 58 The Planktonic Foraminifera 58 Summary 60 Acknowledgments 60 Fauna[ Reference List 60 References 62 MICROBIOLOGICAL STUDIES IN STIRLING BASIN, MILFORD SOUND, by T. M. Skerman 65 Introduction 65 Methods 66 Sampling 66 Media 66 Results .... 67 Basin Waters 67 Basin Sediments 67 Discussion 68 Acknowledgments 71 References 71 8 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Page No. TRANSFORMATIONS OF SULPHUR COMPOUNDS IN THE SEDIMENTS OF MILFORD SOUND, by I. R. Kaplan and T. A. Rafter . 73 Introduction 73 Results and Discussion 74 References 76 A NOTE ON POLLEN DlSTRlBUTION lN A CORE FROM MILFORD SOUND, by W. F. Harris 77 Preparation of Pollen Samples 77 Results 77 Discussion 77 Tables 77, 78 BENTHIC ECOLOGY OF MILFORD SOUND, by D. E. Hurley 79 Summary 79 Introduction 79 Station Observations 80 Commentary 8 l BottomEchinocardi11m Communities 83 The Brachiopod-Ch/amysCommunity 83 The Community 84 The Mixed "Community'' 84 Amnities of the Milford Fauna 85 Similarities to Western Southland Fiords 85 Effects of OrculationL11ci110111a on Benthic AnimalsPrionospio of the Fiord 85 The Occurrence of and and their signiflcance 87 Feeding of Ophiuroids 88 Additions to Molluscan Checklist 88 References 88 A LIST OF MOLLUSCA AND BRACHIOPODA COLLECTED BY N.Z.O.I. FROM MILFORD SOUND, by R. K. Dell 91 A LIST OF POLYCHAETA COLLECTED BY N.Z.O.f. FROM MILFORD SOUND, by G. A. Knox: 93 BY A UST OF ECHINODERMATA COLLECTED N.Z.O.T. FROM MILFORD SOUND, by H. Barraclough Fell 95 A NOTE ON DIATOMS OCCURRI G IN MILFORD SOUND, by E.