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Preface to Landscape and Quaternary Environmental change in New Zealand.pdf
This book brings together an overview of the recent geological history, active earth and biological processes and human settlement of New Zealand. Topics covered include the very active neotectonic and volcanic setting. Mountain geomorphic processes are examined and new ideas about landsliding are highlighted. The exceptional sedimentary archives of the Whanganui Basin are also presented. As one of two land masses that extend into the southern mid-latitudes, New Zealand is ideally located to investigate changes in Southern Ocean climate. Related to this, mountain glaciation in New Zealand is a focus in global climate change debates. New Zealand also has a unique biota due to its long isolation and is the last major land mass to be settled by people. Advances in DNA technologies have revolutionised our understanding of the histories and processes involved. The book provides a comprehensive review of existing work and highlights new ideas and major debates across all these fields.
The origin and history of New Zealand's terrestrial vertebrates
2010
Since the 1980s, morphological and molecular research has resulted in significant advances in understanding the relationships and origins of the recent terrestrial vertebrate fauna in the New Zealand biogeographic region. This research has led to many taxonomic changes, with a significant increase in the number of bird and reptile species recognised. It has also resulted in the recognition of several more Holocene (<10 000 years ago) bird species extinctions. The conclusion that Holocene extinctions were primarily caused by human- hunting and predation by other introduced mammals (particularly rats and cats) has been supported by new data. Despite many local eradications of introduced pests, the number of introduced species has increased, with the establishment of five more foreign birds and (on Norfolk Island) the house gecko ( Hemidactylus frenatus). Many new, significant New Zealand vertebrate fossils have been reported, including more dinosaurs from the Cretaceous, and the fi...
Quaternary International, 2008
A tephra-bearing lake sequence from near Ormond, New Zealand, provided the opportunity to conduct a multi-proxy paleoenvironmental analysis within the Mid-Pleistocene time period. A 10.5-m-thick section was measured and analysed for pollen, spores, diatoms, macrofossils, and tephra geochemistry. Palynological assemblages in the lower 4 m of the section indicate an ameliorating temperate climate and increased humidity. The upper 6.5 m is dominated by diatomite that did not yield sufficient palynomorphs for study. The source vegetation was distal lowland mixed broadleaf podocarp forest, swamp forest from ca. 2.5-4.0 m, and proximal scrubland with sporadic forest encroachment. Abundant freshwater algae in the samples suggest that any brackish influence in the lower part of the section was minor. Marine dinoflagellates found in the basal pollen samples could be mostly recycled. Diatomite samples were overwhelmingly dominated by a freshwater but mildly salt-tolerant diatom. We interpret the section as representing a shallow coastal lowland lake that intermittently had access to the sea.
Geological Magazine, 2008
The Waipounamu Erosion Surface is a time-transgressive, nearly planar, wave-cut surface. It is not a peneplain. Formation of the Waipounamu Erosion Surface began in Late Cretaceous time following break-up of Gondwanaland, and continued until earliest Miocene time, during a 60 million year period of widespread tectonic quiescence, thermal subsidence and marine transgression. Sedimentary facies and geomorphological evidence suggest that the erosion surface may have eventually covered the New Zealand subcontinent (Zealandia). We can find no geological evidence to indicate that land areas were continuously present throughout the middle Cenozoic. Important implications of this conclusion are: (1) the New Zealand subcontinent was largely, or entirely, submerged and (2) New Zealand's present terrestrial fauna and flora evolved largely from fortuitous arrivals during the past 22 million years. Thus the modern terrestrial biota may not be descended from archaic ancestors residing on Zealandia when it broke away from Gondwanaland in the Cretaceous, since the terrestrial biota would have been extinguished if this landmass was submerged in Oligocene-Early Miocene time. We conclude that there is insufficient geological basis for assuming that land was continuously present in the New Zealand region through Oligocene to Early Miocene time, and we therefore contemplate the alternative possibility, complete submergence of Zealandia.
The early Middle Miocene paleoenvironmental setting of New Zealand
2002
sedimentary record that extends from terrestrial through to distal oceanic paleoenvironmental settings available for study in outcrop, petroleum exploration wells and deep sea drillholes. We use this data to establish a new model for the region at the beginning of middle Miocene times on a palinspastic base map, as a starting point for the study of later middle Miocene global cooling and its effects. The New Zealand record provides useful clues to SW Pacific circulation patterns and the effects of global cooling during the middle Miocene. The New Zealand subcontinent extended over several degrees of paleolatitude and probably formed a north-south barrier to warm, South Pacific gyre circulation, forcing warm-temperate surface currents to pass up the western coast. To the south, cold circumpolar currents entered the Pacific and passed up the SE margin of paleo-New Zealand. Shelves were narrow in the north and west but broadened to several tens of kilometres wide in the east and south. Age-recalibration of published stable isotope data from DSDP sites 608, 588 and 590 shows the main cooling period of the middle Miocene coincides with the New Zealand Lillburnian Stage. There also appears to have been a short period of cooling of bottom waters around 16.3 Ma (the base of the New Zealand Clifdenian Stage), perhaps recording climatic instability just prior to buildup of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Though we cannot yet determine if the ~16 Ma cooling was associated with glacioeustatic sea level fall, the proximal sedimentary record for New Zealand at this time is consistent with a fall, followed by a rise. There is good evidence for contemporaneous tectonism and this might account for much or all of the fall. However, because the fall in relative sea level occurred in several basins, on either side of the plate boundary, a purely tectonic origin would require it to be a New Zealand-wide event. RESUMEN Nueva Zelanda tiene un registro sedimentario correspondiente al Mioceno medio (~16.4-11.2 Ma) que se extiende desde condiciones paleoambientales terrestres hasta ambientes oceánicos distantes disponible para su estudio en afloramientos, exploración de pozos petroleros y perforaciones marinas profundas. Utilizamos estos datos para establecer un nuevo modelo para la región al inicio del Mioceno medio basados en un mapa palinspástico de base, como un punto de partida para el estudio del enfriamiento global y sus efectos durante el Mioceno medio tardío. El registro de Nueva Zelanda proporciona indicios útiles sobre los patrones de circulación del Pacífico Suroccidental y sus efectos sobre el enfriamiento global durante el Mioceno medio. El subcontinente de Nueva Zelanda se extendió a lo largo de varios grados de paleolatitud y probablemente formó una barrera norte-sur a la circulación cálida de giro del Pacífico Sur, forzando a las corrientes tibias superficiales a subir por la costa occidental. Hacia el sur, las frías corrientes cir-
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2017
New Zealand, long recognised as a land where birds dominate the terrestrial vertebrate biota, lacked an informative fossil record for the non-marine pre-Pleistocene avifauna until the twenty-first century. Here we review recent research that alters the known diversity of the fossil Paleogene-Neogene birds and our understanding of the origin of New Zealand's recent or modern biota. Since 2010, there has been a 50% increase in the number of described fossil bird species (now 45) for the pre-Quaternary period. Many represent higher taxa that are new or listed for New Zealand for the first time, including 12 genera (35 total), nine family-level taxa (18 total), and seven ordinal taxa. We also review recent multidisciplinary research integrating DNA and morphological analyses affecting the taxonomic diversity of the Quaternary avifauna and present revised diversity metrics. The Holocene avifauna contained 217 indigenous breeding species (67% endemic) of which 54 (25%) are extinct.