Dun Mountain

Dun Mountain is a mountain in the Richmond Range near the city of Nelson in the Tasman District of New Zealand's South Island.[1][2] It is located between the catchments of the Pelorus, Maitai and Roding Rivers. The mountain is named for its brown (Dun) colour. The colour is caused by the ultramafic rock which forms the mountain. Ultramafic Rock weathers to this colour and plant growth is also stunted due to the soils high heavy metal content.[3] The ultramafic rock formed in the earth's mantle in the Permian and is now part of the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt.

Dun Mountain
Highest point
Elevation1,129 m (3,704 ft)
Geography
LocationNelson, New Zealand

In 1859 the rock type dunite was first identified on the mountain and named after it.[4] Between 1850 and 1865 small deposits of chromite and copper were mined on the mountain leading to the building of New Zealand's first railway.

References
  1. "Dun Mountain Trail gets government funding". Stuff. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  2. McLintock, Alexander Hare; George William Grindley, M. SC; Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "Dun Mountain". An encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, 1966. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  3. Robinson, Brett H.; Brooks, Robert R.; Kirkman, John H.; Gregg, Paul E.H.; Gremigni, Patrizia (1996). "Plant‐available elements in soils and their influence on the vegetation over ultramafic ("serpentine") rocks in New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 26 (4): 457–468. doi:10.1080/03014223.1996.9517520. ISSN 0303-6758.
  4. Johnston, M. R. (2007). "Nineteenth-century observations of the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt, Nelson, New Zealand and trans-Tasman correlations". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 287 (1): 375–387. Bibcode:2007GSLSP.287..375J. doi:10.1144/sp287.27. S2CID 129776536.


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