New Zealand geology

This paper presents an overview of the space and time distributions of Lopingian strata and biotas in Australia, New Zealand, Timor and New Caledonia. Based on this review, we propose a new schematic Late Permian (Lopingian) regional palaeogeographical reconstruction and marine palaeobiogeographical synthesis. The latter also incorporates some key features of the ocean circulation patterns around southeastern Gondwana, inferred primarily from the distribution of regional marine Lopingian faunas.
Across Australasia, Lopingian successions accumulated in a wide range of tectonic, palaeoenvironmental and palaeolatitudinal settings. In New Zealand, Lopingian strata are found in several tectonostratigraphical terranes, notably the Brook Street, Dun Mountain–Maitai, Caples, Waipapa and Torlesse terranes/superterranes, each originating as a distinctive basin, island arc or ocean ridge. For the most part, these successions represent displaced segments of volcanic arcs, arc-flanking clastic aprons, intra- and fore-arc basins and accretionary complexes, some of which have been traced via stratigraphical, biostratigraphical and petrological correlations into New Caledonia and eastern Australia. This spectrum of Lopingian tectono-sedimentary environments in New Zealand is interpreted to have been originally located near northeastern Australia on a convergent continental margin (i.e. the Panthalassan margin of southeastern Gondwana). Brachiopod and bivalve faunas occur widely throughout the Lopingian successions of New Zealand and have been closely studied. A total of five successive faunal zones are recognized, ranging in age from mid-late Wuchiapingian to the end of the Changhsingian.
In Australia, Lopingian deposits are dominated by non-marine successions in a large number of widely distributed sedimentary basins; onshore exposures of marine deposits are known only from the Gympie Terrane in eastern Australia and the Canning and Bonaparte basins in Western Australia. Lopingian terrestrial sediments are most extensively represented in eastern Australia within a major meridional foreland basin complex (the Tasmania, Sydney, Gunnedah and Bowen basins), for which the evolution through the Lopingian and Early Triassic was governed by the dynamics of the New England Orogen along the Panthalassan margin of southeastern Gondwana. Most of the non-marine successions in eastern Australia are rich in coal measures and plant fossils and locally contain well-preserved non-marine invertebrate and vertebrate fossils. A succession of six palynostratigraphical zones has been recognized in eastern Australia spanning the Lopingian through the Early Triassic. Several of these palynozones have also been recognized in Western Australia, allowing the discrimination and correlation of Lopingian deposits in both onshore and offshore successions. In contrast to eastern Australia and New Zealand, the marine Lopingian successions of Western Australia and Timor are dominated by carbonates that are only locally interbedded with siliciclastic sediments and sparse volcaniclastics; these successions accumulated in a giant sedimentary basin located on a passive and actively rifting continental margin. Marine connections and free and frequent biotic interchanges between this Western Australian superbasin (including Timor) and the Himalayan region of Nepal, southern Tibet and northern India throughout the Lopingian are evident from the shared occurrences of many shallow-marine invertebrate species.

Specimens of a late Bajocian to early Callovian isocrinid assigned to Pentacrinites cf. P. californicus (Clark), and specimens collected by Hikuroa in 1999–2000, are described as a new species of Chariocrinus. All specimens were collected from rock exposures of the Latady Formation at eight localities in the Behrendt and Hauberg Mountains, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica.The fauna, preserved in situ at all localities, is essentially complete, but due to tectonism, localities may have been moved many kilometres from their original position. Chariocrinus latadiensis n. sp. is compared with congeneric species and those of Hispidocrinus. It is the first record of the genus in the Southern Hemisphere, which has European Tethyan affinities. Columnals are pentastellate to pentalobate, and the symplectial articula appear diagnostic of Hispidocrinus but are included in Chariocrinus on the basis of spineless axillaries and fused adjacent crenulae; those of Hispidocrinus are spined and separated by a furrow or smooth band, respectively.A single pluricolumnal (?Apiocrinus) is the only associated crinoid found at any of the localities. Chariocrinus latadiensis lived a semi‐sessile existence on a volcarenite substrate in association with vagrant ammonites, epifaunal and infaunal bivalves, and epifaunal brachiopods. The benthic taxa lived in shallow, low energy marine environments in the Middle Jurassic, part of a submarine back‐arc basin near the shore off southeastern Gondwana.

Prehistoric timescales, volcanic hazard assessment, and understanding of volcanogenic climate events rely on accurate dating of prehistoric eruptions. Most late Quaternary eruptions are dated by 14 C measurements on material from close to the volcano that may be contaminated by geologic-sourced infinite-age carbon. Here we show that 14 C ages for the Taupo (New Zealand) First Millennium eruption are geographically arrayed, with oldest ages closer to the vent. The current eruption wiggle match date of 232 ± 5 years CE is amongst the oldest. We present evidence that the older, vent-proximal 14 C ages were biased by magmatic CO 2 degassed from groundwater, and that the Taupo eruption occurred decades to two centuries after 232 CE. Our reinterpretation implies that ages for other proximally-dated, unobserved, eruptions may also be too old. Plateauing or declining tree ring cellulose δ 13 C and Δ 14 C values near a volcano indicate magmatic influence and may allow forecasting of super-eruptions.

... [CrossRef] View all references; Abellán et al. 20101. Abellán, P, Benetti, CJ, Angus, RB and Ribera, I. 2010. A review of Quaternary range shifts in European aquatic Coleoptera. ... 2009; Abellán et al. 20101. Abellán, P, Benetti, CJ, Angus, RB and Ribera, I. 2010. ...