The landscape is the sculpted eroded remnants of volcanoes that erupted 12 – 5.8 million years ago. Over time, erosion has uncovered the hearts of these ancient volcanoes, now giving the unique ability to explore the insides and internal plumbing of a volcano, to see how the volcanoes erupted, and understand how the landscape evolved and is sculpted by geologic processes. Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula is not just volcanic in origin: buried beneath the volcanics are rocks of the super-continent, Gondwana; rocks from the separation of Aotearoa / New Zealand from Australia and Antarctica; and from periods of submersion beneath the ocean. The volcanic rocks have been carved by wind, rain, rivers, earthquakes, and the ocean over millions of years, forming the valleys, bays, harbours, peaks, and ridges. The landscape was then draped with wind-blown soils (loess) accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years from glacial rock dust of the Southern Alps transported by the “Nor’West” winds.

Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula as a geomorphic entity is crucial in the formation of the Ka Pakihi Whakatekateka o Waitaha / Canterbury Plains and the coastline. When active, the volcanoes were islands. After volcanism ceased, the plant and animal life that colonized the island were separated from their mainland relatives. Because of this, Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula has a remarkably high proportion of rare and endemic plants found only on the Peninsula. The formation of the Ka Pakihi Whakatekateka o Waitaha / Canterbury plains, and the incorporation of the volcanoes into the current exposed landmass of Zealandia, are relatively recent phenomena.