Milford SoundDeep within New Zealand’s Fjordland National Park on the South Island lies the beautifu

Milford SoundDeep within New Zealand’s Fjordland National Park on the South Island lies the beautiful and stunning Milford Sound. It is a 17 kilometers long glacial fjord with extremely steep and high rock walls rising vertically from the dark waters.Maori discovered the area about 1000 years ago and have named it Piopiotahi which means “a single piopio”. A piopio is a long extinct native bird and according to Maori legends a single piopio once flew through the fjord, mourning the tragic death of a Maori hero. The first European to discover Milford Sound was John Grono who named it after Milford Haven in Wales.The name Milford Sound is actually not quite correct. A sound is a valley formed by a river and subsequently flooded by the sea whereas a fjord is carved out by glaciers. The Milford Sound was created by the erosive effect of glaciers which actually makes it a fjord rather than a sound.The fjord is connected to the sea but has a very low salinity. The reason for this lies in its glacial history. It was carved out about 20000 years ago and as the ice melted the glaciers deposited huge amounts of moraine (accumulation of unconsolidated soil or rock) at the seaward ends of the valleys. These terminal moraines have formed a partial barrier to the sea and confine water circulation to the top 20 - 40 meters. Below the barrier the water can stay undisturbed for many years.The low salinity and the high amounts of rainfall create a unique underwater environment. The rainwater forms countless waterfalls and becomes stained with tannins while draining through the lush forests which gives it the color of strong tea. It forms a layer on top of the seawater, filtering out light and constraining the growth of seaweeds. Due to this effect the fjord supports the world’s biggest population of black coral trees as well as sponges, sea cucumbers, fish, corals, starfish and many more. Other animals like seals or whales can also be spotted while visiting the fjord.The rocks of the region originated at the bottom of the sea and became transformed and uplifted during tectonic movements over the course of about 500 million years. The Fjordland mainly consists of intruded magmatic rocks such as granite and diorite and high metamorphic gneisses. The gneiss in the Milford Sound is an Orthogneiss which means it was derived from igneous rocks. Even though those rocks are very strong, the steep slopes of the valleys and the tectonic activity of the area can cause occasional landslides.XandiImage Credits:http://bit.ly/1RuJCmj http://bit.ly/1TGUxbA http://bit.ly/1OcNwLS Sources:http://www.milford-sound.co.nz/ http://www.newzealand.com/int/milford-sound/ http://bit.ly/1MVOmuI -- source link
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