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Geography - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Beech forest Grows above 1000 meters up to 1200 meters. Prior to the Taupo eruption in 232AD podocarp forests and beech forests were extensive on the TVC. Now regenerating faster on the Westren slopes where climate conditions are more favourable. Large beech forests can be found on the southern slopes of Ruapehu as this area was sheltered from the Taupo eruption.
      - Tussock and shrub land Predominant vegetation between 1250 meters and up to 1600 meters. Grass like vegetation. Early stage plant in the vegetation succession process.
      - Podocarp forest found at low altitudes up to 1000 meters as they need deeper soils and flatter slopes. They can be found on the southern slopes of Ruapehu up to 1000 meters.
      - Moss, lichen, and alpine plants Hardy plants that grow at altitudes of 1600 meters and above, where the temperature is too cold for other plants to grow and survive in the thin soils found on steeper slopes.
- - - - The element of relief interacts with the climate to form the characteristic of vegetation. Orographic rainfall interacts with the relief resulting in the western side receiving more rain than the eastern side of the TVC environment. This is because moisture evaporates off the Tasman Sea carried by the prevailing westerly winds and as the air reaches the foot of the Strato volcano is forced to move upwards and cools and condenses resulting in precipitation on the western slopes. The dry air then flows over the top of the Strato volcanoes (Mt Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe) onto the eastern side which results in eastern slopes being in a rain shadow area as they receive less rainfall due to the air having already expelled large amounts of moisture.
      - This interacts for the vegetation characteristic of the TVC as on the western slopes around 1000 m your beach forest as a source and moist enough with develops soils to contain this vegetation. 1500 m there scrublands and tussock as the soil is more thin due to wind erosion and near the top of Ruapehu the soil are to thin for good soil development and there is only Alpine plants and lichen and survive and at the top of Ruapehu 2797 m is too steep for plants to exist. This is because the temperatures are too cold and wind is too strong for plant life to exist. As well as often being covered in snow. On the eastern side close to the top of Ruapehu it is a barren landscape with desert like conditions and only a few hardy plants such lichen and tussock due to be in a rain shadow area and the strong dry winds created from orographic rainfall.
    - - The process of volcanic and tectonic processes interact with the glaciation processes to form the characteristic of land forms. The tectonic processes cause convection currents which split New Zealand off from Gondwanaland 80 million years ago. Convection currents causes Pacific plate to subduct under the Indo Australian plate is a Pacific plate is a denser oceanic crust. Volcanic processes create friction which creates heat which starts to melt down the plate and create a magma chamber over time the magma escapes a rock due to buildup of gases cause it by increase pressure and expelled as an eruption. This created the landforms we see today of Tongariro and Ruapehu which were form 250,000 years ago and Ngauruhoe which is from 2500 years ago which continued to form and developed from successive eruptions.
      - These landscapes of continue to change over time due to glaciation. Glaciations has round off the profiles of the now extinct Kakaramea, Tihia and Pihanga. The most obvious effect of a glacier is how it is has carved out the U-shaped Magetepopo Valley
- - - - Some trampers are unable to get a park in the small car parks and are parking on the side of the road destroying vegetation and making the road unsafe.
      - Increased number of people walking tracks in the TVC in particular the Tongaririo Crossing are increasing erosion of the environment. Some trampers go off the track or try to avoid wet patches on the track further damaging the environment in areas beyond the track.
      - The increase in number of tourist visiting walking tracks has put increased pressure on the toilet facilities in the area. In peak season there is often lines at the toilet on the Tongaririo Crossing. Some choose to defecate (poo) in the open environment which is culturally offensive to the tapu status of the mountains.
      - "The toilets are struggling to cope too. Local iwi picked up six buckets of human waste on a single day last Labour Weekend.  The track is equipped to handle around 600 walkers daily but on busy days it's getting as many as 3000. Visitor numbers have been increasing 15 percent year-on-year with around 125,000 people walking the crossing last year." - Newshub
      - Trampers also leave litter which does not biodegrade and pollutes the natural environment.