Template:Short description Template:Use New Zealand English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox body of water

Lake Coleridge (Template:Langx) is in inland Canterbury, New Zealand's South Island. It is located Template:Convert northwest of Methven and has a surface area of Template:Convert. The lake is situated in an over-deepened valley formed by a glacier<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp over 20,000 years ago in the Pleistocene era. It currently has no natural outflows. There is a small settlement at the lake.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

EcologyEdit

Early colonial explorers found the shores of the lake covered in mānuka (or kānuka), kōwhai, cabbage trees, flax and general swamp plants. The lake was also surrounded by southern rātā trees and native beech trees. The lake itself was fairly lacking in aquatic plants because of a lack of nutrients. It was known for a population of large eels.<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp

Human activity has significantly changed the ecology. Colonial settlers introduced game fish, including rainbow trout, brown trout, Atlantic salmon and Chinook salmon.<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp Changing water levels caused by the operation of the Coleridge Power Station killed most of the kānuka in 1914 and rata in 1923.<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp In modern times a mixture of native and introduced plants surround the lake, including matagouri, broom, gorse, briar, coprosma and biddi-biddi.<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp

HistoryEdit

File:Lake Coleridge New Zealand Road (2167259565).jpg
Lake Coleridge pictured from close to the Coleridge Power Station looking north.

Pre-historyEdit

The area of the lake was formed by glacial erosion, probably during the Waimaungan, Waimean and Otiran glaciations.<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp The lake sits close to multiple geological fault-lines, including the Porters Pass Fault, the Cass Fault and the Blue Hill Fault.<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp

MāoriEdit

There is evidence of Māori activity in the area dating back potentially as far as the 13th century. Some nearby archaeological campfires and moa bones were carbon-dated to between 1340 and 1420 AD.<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp Although the area was initially thickly forested, large fires destroyed most of the vegetation between 1200 and 1400.<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp Later, the lake became an important stopping place for coastal tribes making the difficult journey between the east and west coasts to obtain pounamu: the lake’s abundant eels, weka and water fowl could be used to replenish stocks on the long journey.<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp

Colonisation and modern timesEdit

File:Map of Canterbury by Thomas, 1849.JPG
Original map of Canterbury by Joseph Thomas on which he named Lake Coleridge

The lake was named by the chief surveyor of the Canterbury Association, Joseph Thomas, on a sketch map prepared in early 1849. The name commemorates two early members of the Canterbury Association, Edward Coleridge and William Coleridge, who were first cousins and both nephews of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.<ref name="britten"/>Template:Rp<ref name=Blain>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Two other members of the Coleridge family joined the Canterbury Association in June 1851, after the lake had been named: John Taylor Coleridge (a brother of Edward), and John Coleridge, one of John Taylor's sons.<ref name=Blain />

The lake is the site of one of the country's earliest hydroelectric schemes, the Coleridge Power Station, initially completed in 1914 and built mainly to supply power to Christchurch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The project makes use of the difference in altitude between the lake and river (the lake is Template:Convert higher). Both the Harper and Wilberforce rivers have had some of their flow diverted into the lake, with up to 100% of the Harper's flow diverted for the power station. The power station is still operating today.

The lake was the epicentre of a 6.5 magnitude earthquake that struck on 26 June 1946.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ClimateEdit

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See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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Template:Selwyn District, New Zealand Template:Rakaia Template:Authority control