| Lake Tutira | |
|---|---|
| Location | Hawke's Bay, North Island |
| Lake type | mesotrophic |
| Catchment area | 27 km² |
| Basin countries | New Zealand |
| Surface area | 1.74 km² |
| Average depth | 20.8 m |
| Max. depth | 42 m |
| Residence time | 2 years |
| Surface elevation | 150 m |
| Islands | 1 |
Lake Tutira is a body of water in northeastern Hawke's Bay, New Zealand.
Much of the area was surveyed by Herbert Guthrie-Smith, who farmed 60,000 acres (240 km²) surrounding the lake. Guthrie-Smith, a naturalist, published Tutira: the story of a New Zealand sheep station in 1921. Today, a camp is run at the site of his homestead.
Sedimentary cores from the lake were used to demonstrate that the landslides mobilising sediments for transport into the lake occur in frequency and magnitude according to a power law.[1]
Swimming in the lake is possible. Trout fishing is permitted as a stream flows into its northern reaches. For centuries Maori seasonally lived by Lake Tutira and you can see the remains of six pa sites. The Tutira Walkway, ascends to the Table Mountain trig station for stunning views over Hawke's Bay and takes about 5 hours to complete.
The lake contains a high-resolution record of the sedimentation since its formation about 6,500 years ago.[2] It has a small catchment area, whose dominant erosion mechanism is landsliding; as a result of this, infrequent, large storms account for the bulk of the sedimentary depositional volume; Cyclone Bola is a particularly important recent example.[3][4]
The lake appears in the film short Weekly Review 395 as Landscapes: The Lakes at Tūtira [1].