Otago Targets Geology Department with 30% Staff Cuts

Posted 2:03pm Monday 31st July 2023 by Fox Meyer

Otago University was founded on geology and medicine, and has recently targeted both with considerable budget cuts.   According to documents seen by Critic Te Ārohi, the Geology Department is facing a proposed reduction of about a third of their staff, despite boasting the title of Read more...

Raw Power: Interests Clash over Aotearoa’s Whitewater Jewel

Posted 7:17pm Friday 2nd September 2022 by Kaia Kahurangi Jamieson and Fox Meyer

Science by Beth Wishart Photos by Whitewater NZ The Waitaha crushes through West Coast boulders like a churning blade. The awa (river) is an iconic, temperamental, visually stunning and ecologically significant part of the taiao (environment), admired by all who have seen it. It is home to Read more...

Researchers Find Big Fossilised Duck in Central Otago

Posted 12:34pm Sunday 13th March 2022 by Denzel Chung

A team of researchers, including Otago staff and students, have discovered an exciting new fossil at St Bathans in Central Otago: a species of shelduck. The original animal is believed to have been massive, standing at a whopping 70cm. For a duck, that’s pretty tall. The duck was believed Read more...

Geology Department gets $8.6 Million to look at Mud

Posted 1:48pm Monday 20th September 2021 by Fox Meyer

Otago’s Geology Department just secured $8.6 million to study carbon sequestration in Fiordland. The funding, which will run for five years, was secured by a multidisciplinary team led by Associate Professor Chris Moy and Honorary Professor Gary Wilson. Professor Claudine Stirling, also in Read more...

Earthquake Monitoring System Deployed

Posted 1:10am Monday 9th August 2021 by Fox Meyer

The Otago Earthquake Science Group, and Property Services, have installed four new “shake-sensors” on campus. Canterbury Seismic Instruments will monitor the accelerograph stations and help emergency services respond to a seismic event. You can see one of these new stations in the Read more...

Second-Year Discovers New Species of Dolphin

Posted 10:55pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Fox Meyer

Students have discovered what is “almost certainly” a new species of dolphin while on an annual geology field trip. The mandatory second year field trip spends one afternoon at the Tokorahi lime quarry, where students are given some time to poke around for fossils in the limestone Read more...

Student Meant to be Near Epicentre of Quake

Posted 11:06pm Saturday 13th March 2021 by Fox Meyer

Four Otago students were meant to be on a boat offshore of the Kermadec Islands on the morning of March 5. This would have placed them near the epicentre of the M7.4 and M8.1 quakes that triggered Tsunami warnings in the North Island.   In a weird twist of fate, a last-minute Covid Read more...