Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstracts

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A quantitative palynostratigraphy of the Miocene Manuherikia Group, New Zealand

Mike Pole¹ and Barry Douglas²

A quantitative palynostratigraphy is presented for the Manuherikia Group, New Zealand. Six stratigraphic sections were studied from the northern Manuherikia basin where the relative proportions of six pollen taxa were compared: Nothofagus `brassii type', Nothofagus `fusca type', Casuarinaceae, Myrtaceae, Arecaceae, Asteraceae, and Chenopodiaceae. A consistent order of dominance is apparent and zone boundaries are erected based on dominance of the latter five taxa over that of Nothofagus `brassii type'. Four new zones are proposed: the Nothofagus `brassii type' Zone, the Arecaceae-Myrtaceae Zone, the Casuarinaceae Zone, and the Asteraceae-Chenopodiaceae Zone. The latter is essentially a redefinition of the Chenopodipollis chenopodiaceoides Zone of Mildenhall and Pocknall. Correlation with the International time scale is attempted: the N. `brassii type' Zone is Early Miocene, while the base of the Casuarinaceae Zone or the Asteraceae-Chenopodiaceae Zone may correlate with major global cooling recognised at approximately 14 Ma.

Keywords: biostratigraphy; climate change; Manuherikia Group; Miocene; palynology

(c) Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand,

Volume 28, Number 3, September 1998, pp 405-420

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1055K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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