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Story: Whanganui region

River valley and hill country

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River valley and hill country

This aerial shot of the Whanganui hill country – looking west from the Whanganui River towards Mt Taranaki – shows the contrast between an incised river valley and the ridges that flank it. The region’s rivers have cut down into the sedimentary rock as the land has risen; the former plain survives in the ‘summit accordance’ – ridge after ridge of approximately the same height.

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GNS Science

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by Lloyd Homer

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How to cite this page

Diana Beaglehole, Whanganui region – Landscapes and climate, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/19007/river-valley-and-hill-country (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Diana Beaglehole, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 June 2015.