Geology, landforms and soils of the Waipara and Waikari regions of North Canterbury with an emphasis on lands used for viticulture Philip Tonkin1*, Trevor Webb2*, Peter Almond1,3, Glen Creasy1,4, Roland Harrison1,4, Leanne Hassall1,3, Carol Smith1,3 1Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand, 2Landcare Research (New Zealand) Limited, Lincoln, New Zealand, 3Department of Soil and Physical Sciences, 4Centre for Viticulture and Oenology 2015 Looking across the Greystones vineyard to the Omihi Valley and beyond towards Moores Hill, Waipara North Canterbury. * Retired Lincoln University and Landcare Research (New Zealand) Ltd., 2015 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Print ISBN: 978-0-86476-402-7 Electronic ISBN: 978-0-86476-403-4 Philip Tonkin Trevor Webb Peter Almond ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4203-1529 Glen Creasy ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1637-8051 Roland Harrison ORCID ID: 000-0001-5879-2221 Leanne Hassall Carol Smith ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6810-3546 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction and outline ....................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... 7 2. Brief geological history of North Canterbury ........................................................................ 8 3. Landscape history of North Canterbury .............................................................................. 12 Landforms of the cover rock sequence ............................................................................... 12 The Waipara Basin .............................................................................................................. 16 Small fans of the basin and valley margins ......................................................................... 19 The Omihi Valley ................................................................................................................. 21 River Terraces ...................................................................................................................... 23 Aeolian cover deposits ........................................................................................................ 24 4. Soils within the Waipara and Waikari regions of North Canterbury ................................... 26 5. Hill slopes on bedrock or colluvium from bedrock .............................................................. 31 Hui Hui soils ......................................................................................................................... 31 Waikari soils ........................................................................................................................ 41 Timpendean soils ................................................................................................................ 51 6. Loess Downlands ................................................................................................................. 57 Waipara soils ....................................................................................................................... 57 Tokarahi soils....................................................................................................................... 62 7. Downlands and associated fans .......................................................................................... 69 Glenmark soils ..................................................................................................................... 69 Amberley, Pahau and Salix Soils.......................................................................................... 83 Pahau soils ........................................................................................................................... 84 Salix soils ............................................................................................................................. 91 8. Canterbury Surface - Waipara fan ..................................................................................... 101 Glasnevin soils ................................................................................................................... 101 Lowcliffe soils .................................................................................................................... 125 9. Canterbury Surface - Weka fan ......................................................................................... 127 Glasnevin soils ................................................................................................................... 127 Eyre soils ........................................................................................................................... 129 Glenmark soils ................................................................................................................... 131 10. Omihi Surface including footslopes and fans .................................................................. 138 Awapuni soils .................................................................................................................... 138 Omihi soils ......................................................................................................................... 149 11. River Terraces .................................................................................................................. 168 Eyre soils ........................................................................................................................... 169 Rakaia soils ........................................................................................................................ 171 Rangitata soils ................................................................................................................... 172 3 12. Recent fans ..................................................................................................................... 177 Waimakariri and Selwyn soils ........................................................................................... 177 13. Soil mapping, description and classification ................................................................... 186 Soil families ....................................................................................................................... 187 Soil siblings ........................................................................................................................ 187 S-mapOnline web site ....................................................................................................... 188 Field identification of soil profiles and soil profile description ......................................... 188 New Zealand Soil Classification ......................................................................................... 197 14. Interpretation of soils’ data ............................................................................................. 202 Grapevine requirements and soil characteristics ............................................................. 202 Soil and its contribution to wine attributes ...................................................................... 205 15. Vineyards in North Canterbury........................................................................................ 209 16. References ....................................................................................................................... 216 Disclaimer This report has been prepared by Lincoln University and Landcare Research. No warranty or representation is given as to its accuracy and no liability is accepted for loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from reliance on the information in it. 4 1. Introduction and outline Soils play and important role in grape growing and wine making. Soils anchor the vine and act as a reservoir of water and nutrients essential for growth. Soils influence the vine microclimate and therefore wine characteristics. While the history of winemaking in Waipara can be measured in decades, the soil's history goes back thousands of years, yet it still has a tangible influence on vine and wine. Adding to this is the input of vignerons, whose husbandry varies with place and person, leading to unique wines, expressing their terroir, or sense of place. The influence of soil on wine quality has been discussed and researched for many years, yet there is still much to be understood. This document forms a summary of information about a serendipitous nexus of soil and wine in Canterbury's Waipara and the neighboring Waikari regions. Here, geological processes have resulted in broad range of parent materials on which a wide variety of soils have formed within a relatively small area: a perfect place to start investigating the physical aspects of terroir on wine. From the mid 1980’s in the Waipara region and the mid 1990’s in the Waikari region of North Canterbury, there have been changes to and intensification of land use, most notably expressed by the development and expansion of viticulture and wine making. In a relatively short span of time, this area of North Canterbury has cemented a reputation for high quality wines, particularly for Pinot noir and Riesling. There are good reasons for this. The region has many soil and landform attributes that suit this land use, including the meso climate with the coastal hills sheltering the region