Lake Chalice is a steep sided alpine lake approximately 2km long located in Mount Richmond Forest Park, in the Marlborough Region. It formed approximately 2000 years ago when a huge landslip, possibly caused by a large earthquake, dammed the upper Goulter River. There is no outlet to Lake Chalice so water drains through the landslip rubble into the lower Goulter River, a tributary of the Waiau River.
Most of the landscape around the lake remains fully forested in native beech forest. Hebes, Crassula, and the rare Centipeda aotearoana can be found around the lake shore (NZ Botanical Society 2011). The lake has only one species of fish, kōaro or Galaxius brevipinnis, with this population scientifically important as they have been geographically isolated since the formation of the lake (www.marlboroughonline.co.nz).
Main image by David G. Schmale III, Virginia Tech, https://www.schmalelab.spes.vt.edu/
