Research - Site Geology

The Favona area is characterised by traditional residential housing, with industrial areas around the edges which still include areas of glasshouses. The area was traditionally a market garden area (Norana park had market gardens there) because of the rich soil. There is approximately 22Ha of land still being used for horticultural uses.
It is a relatively flat area, extending around a convulated coastal edge.

Greater Auckland area

The greater site area (Auckland) is characterised by many volcanic cones and craters - the nearest one is Mt Mangere and the corresponding negative space of this - Mangere Lagoon (other examples include Rangitoto & Lake Pupuke, Mt Wellington & the Panmure Basin)

Geology - Catchment areas:

Tarata Creek - Norana Ave = subcatchment #572, 43.9Ha

• mostly Tauranga Group alluvial of the Favona formation, overlying soils mostly yellow-brown loams; SCS soil classification = Type C
Harania Creek - James Fletcher Drive (comes out next to Norana Park) = subcatchment #567 & 565, 15.4Ha

• Otara formation alluvial, some Favona suface alluvium near the park
• Intertidal mud (Tauranga Group) with some sand, silt and shell in the creek bed
Landfill at the end of Norana Road (near the park) is mainly inorganic, street sweeping/catchpit cleaning fill comprising of around 0.2Ha. Does not require resource consent.

The general area of Favona is characterised by the following:

• Late Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene pumiceous river deposits (Neogene sedimentary rocks)
• Main rock = sandstone; Rock class = clastic sediment
• Stratigraphic age = IPI Q5+
• Description: pumiceous mud, sand and gravel with muddy peat and lignite; phyolite pumice, including non-welded ignimbrite, tephra and alluvia
• 0.071-3.6 million years
• Puketoka formation
Undifferentiated Tauranga Group Alluvium (TGA) and Upper (fine grained) Puketoka
Formation (UPF)
This alluvium is typically derived directly from the weathering and erosion of ECBF and typically consists of silts or clays with variable sand content.
The Puketoka Formation sediments are generally alluvial to shallow marine in origin. They occur extensively throughout the low-lying areas adjacent to the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours. They include a wide variety of material types ranging from clays to gravels, though the upper Puketoka Formation is generally silts and clays with variable sand content.

References
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/mhc/resources/pdf/MHX-RP-P-005-s92-Sec4-Part1.pdf
This is a great mapping site: http://data.gns.cri.nz/geology/