New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

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NOTES ON CARBONISED WOOD AND LEAF FRAGMENTS OCCURRING IN TAUPO PUMICE IN THE VICINITY OF THE KAWEKA RANGE

A. Cunningham

Forest and Range Experiment Station, New Zealand Forest Service, Napier

Abstract About A.D. 120 an eruption in the vicinity of Taupo deposited a mantle of pumice over the Kaweka Range and in the valleys of the adjacent Ngaruroro and Taruarau Rivers, charring vegetation growing in these regions at the time. A deposit of charred fragments and leaves of mountain beech found at 4,300 ft in the southern Kaweka Range is described in detail. The leaves are shown to be of slightly different shape from those growing in this place at the present time, and it is tentatively suggested that this difference in shape may indicate the existence of colder climatic conditions 1,800 years ago. Other deposits of charred fragments are briefly mentioned and it is pointed out that much larger fragments occur in the valleys than on the crest of the range. This suggests that pumice laid down on the crest of the range was not as hot as that in the valleys, and that the vegetation on the range crests was not completely destroyed by the eruption.

N.Z. J. Bot. 2 : 107-19
(Received for publication, 20 December 1963)

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