Lake Browning / Whakarewa

Lake Browning / Whakarewa
Whakarewa (Māori)
Lake Browning, photo taken from Three Passes Track, New Zealand
Lake Browning / Whakarewa
Location	Browning Pass / Nōti Raureka, West Coast Region, South Island
Coordinates	42°56′49″S 171°20′38″E / 42.947°S 171.344°E / -42.947; 171.344
Type	tectonic lake
Primary inflows	Browning Pass / Nōti Raureka
Primary outflows	Arahura River
Catchment area	Arahura
Basin countries	New Zealand
Max. length	0.52 kilometres (0.32 mi)
Max. width	0.42 kilometres (0.26 mi)
Surface area	0.162 square kilometres (0.063 sq mi)
Surface elevation	1,360 metres (4,460 ft)[1]

Lake Browning / Whakarewa is a small lake (0.162 km² or 0.063 sq mi) situated on the Main Divide of the Southern Alps in New Zealand. It is 130 km (81 mi) northwest of Christchurch.

The lake occurs in a tectonically-controlled depression formed by a dilational jog or fault stepover along the Main Divide Fault. This depression is also the location of Browning Pass / Nōti Raureka, a mountain pass connecting the upper reaches of the Wilberforce River with the West Coast. The pass was one of the first routes used by local Māori to cross from one side of the Southern Alps to the other.^[2]

The lake waters feed into the Arahura River, which drains to the West Coast. The climb to Lake Browning from the west, up the Arahura River, is considerably more gentle than the steep scree-slope descent into the Wilberforce River on the east of the Main Divide.^[3]

The lake is named after John Browning who was part of the early European surveying party who first negotiated the pass, which is also named for him.^[4] In 1998, the name was officially changed to the current dual name of Lake Browning / Whakarewa as part of the Treaty of Waitangi settlement with Ngāi Tahu.^[5]