New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics abstracts
Short communication
The source, age, and stabilisation of the Koputaroa dunes, Otaki-Te
Horo, New Zealand
Richard M. Hawke
Jack A. McConchie
School of Earth Sciences
Victoria University of Wellington
P.O. Box 600
Wellington, New Zealand
Abstract From Te Horo on the Kapiti Coast, north
to Manawatu, a typical sequence of landforms has been described and
characterised. However, there are significant differences in specific
landform suites. In the Manawatu–Horowhenua area, previous research has
postulated the origin of the Koputaroa dunes and argued they were
active until c. 24 000 yr BP. Luminescence dating of the
Koputaroa dunes at Otaki-Te Horo suggests that they stabilised only
11 000 yr ago. The effects of the Otaki River and Holocene
dunes cause this difference in age of stabilisation. At Otaki-Te Horo,
a lack of sand has prevented more recent dunes from migrating and
covering the Koputaroa dunes. Therefore, the last phase of activity has
been preserved. This is not the case in the Manawatu–Horowhenua area.
Dune formation, or remobilisation, around 11 000 yr BP is
synchronous with a recognised dune building period in Australia, and
paleoenvironmental evidence from New Zealand of cold and dry
conditions.
Keywords sand dunes; Pleistocene; luminescence
dating
G04025; Received 22 June 2004; accepted 30 March 2005; Online
publication date 22 August 2005
New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics, 2005, Vol. 48:
517-522
0028-8306/05/4803-0517© The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005
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