New Zealand Journal of Botany abstract
An interglacial macrofossil flora from Schulz Creek, north Westland, New
Zealand
C. J. BURROWS
Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch, New Zealand
Abstract On a raised shoreline assumed to be of early Kaihinu
Interglacial age (more than 100 kyr ago), in north Westland, well-preserved
plant fossils are exposed in sediments in a road-cutting. They were probably
deposited in a small freshwater lagoon behind a beach ridge, on a prograded
shore. The fossils are robust (wood, coriaceous leaves, tough fruit, or seeds);
almost certainly they represent only a proportion of the flora in Schulz Creek
catchment at the time. The species composition (including Dacrydium
cupressinum, Podocarpus hallii, Prumnopitys ferruginea,
small conifers, Nothofagus spp., Metrosideros robusta,
Elaeocarpus dentatus) suggests that the climate when the deposit was laid
down was probably as mild as it is now. Most of the plant species of the fossil
flora occur today in Schulz Creek catchment and the remainder live nearby.
Keywords Kaihinu Interglacial; Rutherglen Formation; raised shoreline;
plant macrofossils; forest; mild climate
B96028
Received 24 May 1996; accepted 27 September 1996
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