Pūkio Stream facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Pūkio Stream |
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Location of the mouth within New Zealand
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Physical characteristics | |
Main source | The Candlesticks Southern Alps |
River mouth | Esk River Canterbury, New Zealand 43°00′11″S 172°03′09″E / 43.003035°S 172.052632°E |
Pūkio Stream, is a river in North Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand. It flows from The Candlesticks range of the Southern Alps to the Esk River. The underfit stream cuts through terraces of glacial outwash gravels in its course, culminating in a 120-metre-deep (400 ft) incised gorge near to its confluence with the Esk.
Geomorphology
The over-wide valley through which Pūkio Stream flows, is due to the presence of an underlying fault depression which once acted as the former course of the Cox River. This route was later blocked by terminal moraines, from the Pleistocene age Cox glacier with the Cox river finding an alternative outlet to the Poulter River. The principal Lochinvar moraine is also known as the Misery Mounds.
The gorge in the lower reaches has been eroded through superficial deposits of glacial origin, and into the underlying greywacke bedrock.