Champagne Pool New Zealand

Champagne Pool is a lake in New Zealand, situated in the North Island. The lake is a natural hot springs spa in the area of Wai-O-Tapu, in the Waikato region. The heat source is located about 30 km southeast of Rotorua and 50 km northeast of Taupo.

The name Champagne Pool is due to the abundant emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) that are reminiscent of bubbles in a glass of Champagne. The heat source was formed about 900 years ago by a hydrothermal eruption, making it in a geological scale, a relatively young.

Its crater is about 65 meters in diameter and reaches a depth of about 62 meters and an estimated 50,000 ms3.

The deeper waters of Champagne Pool at a temperature of approximately 260 ° C [3] but the water temperature of the lake is between 73 ° C and 75 ° C due to cooling in contact with the atmosphere.

This is the main attraction of the most popular hot springs in New Zealand Wai-O-Tapu thermal Wonderland. Silica and arsenic surround the pool giving it a distinctive orange colour.

The pH is relatively constant, the order of 5.5, caused by blockage of the flow of CO2. Among the gases of the lake is the most abundant carbon dioxide (CO2) but also, to a lesser extent is nitrogen (N2), methane (CH4), hydrogen (H2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and traces of oxygen (O2).

Biological characteristics

While the geochemical characteristics of Champagne Pool are well known, few studies have been concerned by the microbial life forms that could be accommodated.