The Hochsetter lecture is a prestigious annual event named in honour of Ferdinand von Hochstetter. A speaker is chosen annually by the GSNZ Awards Subcommittee.

Monday 18th September 2017. Doors open at 7.00 pm for event from 7.30 to 9.00 pm. Free Event / Gold coin donation

The landscape of New Zealand spectacularly shows the active tectonic processes that occur along the Pacific-Australian plate boundary. However, it is difficult to determine the geological history of development of the onshore landscape because of past erosion. The genetic variations of some species of native, freshwater fish can be used to document the nature and timing of river capture events and mountain range growth. These biological tools provide some new insights into the development of the onshore landscape since the submergence or near-submergence of the NZ landmass in the Oligocene. The biological memory approach to understanding topographic evolution could be extended to all endemic NZ fauna and flora for which suitable distribution and genetic data are available.