Selected Mesozoic and Cenozoic faunas and landscapes, North Island of New Zealand

29 June - 4 July 2002

Pre-Meeting Field Excursion 5 of the First International Palaeontological Congress 2002

led by Austin Hendy and Penelope Cooke

with Peter Kamp, Adam Vonk & Chris Hendy

all from University of Waikato, Hamilton

Photos copyrighted 2002 by Don Chesnut, unless otherwise indicated

Day One (29 June)

• Stop 1, Auckland city and its basalt volcanoes, Mt. Eden (One Tree Hill)
  1. monument at One Tree Hill
  2. view from One Tree Hill
  3. Maori fortifications (earthenworks) constructed during war with the British
  4. view from One Tree Hill
  5. another view from the Hill
  6. field trip participants and leaders
• Stop 3, Kawhia Harbour, Jurassic marine strata
  1. landscape in the area, I forget the significance of this photo
  2. another view
  3. roadcut with Jurassic marine strata exposed
• Stop 5, Taumatototara Road, Jurassic marine strata, Kawhia Series
  1. bivalves, probably the inoceramid Retroceramus
  2. view (through the rain), note dipping beds of an anticline to the left and right
  3. view of same area
  4. same view
• Stop 6, Magnetite-sand mine (not in guidebook)
  1. mine area. Sand is very magnetite rich, a result of concentration by coastal processes. The source of the magnetite is from volcanoes to the south. I collected a sample of the sand, but it was confiscated at Australian Immigration and Customs.
• Stop 7, Waitomo Caves (not in guidebook). We had a special night tour and boat ride in the famous glow worm cave. Glow worms are actually larvae of the "gnat" Arachnocampa luminosa. They each dangle a sticky thread to catch other insects attracted to the light.

Day Two

• Stop 1, Kiritehere Beach, Late Triassic marine strata, Balfour Series
  1. exposures of Triassic strata during low tide
  2. view of rugged coastline from the beach
  3. slab with abundant bivalve fossils, chiefly Monotis
  4. same slab
  5. another slab with fossils
  6. same slab
• View of the coast through the rain
• Stop 3, Marakopa Falls, formed at indurated Mesozoic conglomerate
  1. view of Falls through the rain
  2. another view
  3. yet another view
  4. walk through very dark and wet tree-fern forest
  5. forest of abundant and diverse tree ferns
• Stop 2, Mangapohue Natural Bridge, Late Oligocene, Orahiri Limestone, Te Kuiti Group. Most of the landforms in this area are karstic. This natural bridge is a remnant of and extensive cave system. Most of the cave ceiling had collapsed.
  1. climbing through the natural bridge
  2. looking up through the bridge
  3. looking back down at the stream
  4. another view of stream
  5. karst landscape on other side of natural bridge
  6. one of the limestone outcrops, I forget the significance.
• View of sheep-covered hills, another view of same hills
• Stop 4, Ruakuri caves and forest walk, karst topography of the Te Kuiti Group limestones
  1. giant Moa toe bones, found in nearby cave deposits
  2. overlook onto rapids
  3. swinging bridge

Day Three

• Stop 1, Otorohanga Kiwi House, here we saw several types of kiwis and the primitive tuatara reptile, Sphenodon, and other, mostly avian wild life.
• Stop, Mangaogaki Gorge, not in guidebook.
  1. looking at outcrop
  2. vista
  3. another vista
• Stop 2, Awakino Gorge
  1. roadcut near the Awakino tunnel, sandstone is Tertiary Te Kuiti Group
• Stop 4, Mokau, lunch stop, view overlooking Mokau River and cliffs of Late Miocene sandstones and mudstones of the Mt. Messenger Formation. This is a tidally influenced river mouth; we saw the tidal bore traveling upstream during lunch.
  1. view of surf and river
  2. another view
• Stop 5, Mohakatino River mouth
  1. view of Mt. Messenger sandstone overlying mudstone
• Stop 6, Kaway Pa, Mt. Messenger Fm. sandstones
  1. view of exposure with rugged surf
  2.  another view
  3. yet another view, Carl "Surf's Up" Brett on the right
• Stop 7, Tongaporutu River mouth, Mt. Messenger Fm.
  1. view of the cliffs at the river mouth
• Stop, Methanex Plant, not in guidebook
• Distant view of Mt. Taranaki, a snow-covered volcano
• Stop 8, New Plymouth coast, volcanic plugs of the Sugar Loaf Islands
  1. view of Sugar Loaf Islands
  2. view 2
  3. view 3
  4. view 4
  5. view 5
  6. view 6
  7. view 7

Day Four

• Stop 2, Hawera, coastal outcrop of Pliocene Tangahoe Mudstone and Quaternary marine sediments.
  1. view of the outcrop from above
  2. going down to the beach
  3. unconformable contact between the Quaternary marine sediments above and the Pliocene Tangahoe Mudstone below.
  4. closer view of contact. The dense shell bed in the upper unit marks a Quaternary marine transgression.
  5. view showing the burrowing pholad bivalve Barnea, in the upper part of the Tangahoe Mudstone. Burrowing probably post Pliocene.
  6. view up the beach; Tangahoe exposed in lower part of the cliff. We're looking for Pliocene Phialopecten and Mesopeplum scallops.
  7. another view up the beach
  8. view down the beach
• Stop 3, Lake Rotorangi (Patea Dam), Pliocene Matemateaonga Formation
  1. Lake Rotorangi
  2. section at Patea Dam
  3. black limestone coquina (shellbed) in the Matemateaonga; moldic porosity,
  4. fieldtrip participants
• Stop, Tangahoe mudstone & sandstone, road cut exposures (not in guidebook)
  1. contact between sandstone above and mudstone below, all Tangahoe (Pliocene)
  2. Austin Hendy at contact
  3. view from overlook

Day Five

• View of Pleistocene terrace; terrace begins at fence, early morning
• Stop 1, Castlecliff coastal section, Pleistocene cyclothems of the Wanganui Basin
  1. foot path and footbridge to the beach cliff exposures
  2. fallen block containing shell bed
  3. beach cliff exposure
  4. Pleistocene bivalves
  5. Pleistocene gastropod, I don't know the species
  6. Pinnid bivalves, Pleistocene; don't know the species
  7. ripple-bedded sandstone, Pleistocene, hammer for scale
• Stop 2, Rangitikei River, section through Pliocene strata of the Wanganui Basin
  1. vista 1, unreal green
  2. vista 2
  3. vista 3
• Stop 3, Tongariro National Park, volcanic centers, volcanoes too clouded over to see
  1. Volcanoclastic deposits from volcanic centers, pyroclastic flows?
• Stop 4, Taupo caldera, Lake Taupo was formed in the caldera which was created in an eruption about 26,000 years ago.
  1. view 1, lake in background, cinder cone in midground
  2. view 2
  3. view 3

Day Six

• Overlook near Taupo city, edge of caldera
  1. view 1 with bit of a rainbow
  2. view 2
  3. view 3
• Wairakei Park, Huka Falls
  1. view of falls and rapids
  2. another view of falls
  3. yet another view
  4. pumice deposit from the Taupo ignimbrite, ca 200 AD
• Stop 1, Craters of the Moon, Wairakei Park, bubbling mud pools and steam vents
  1. Craters of the Moon
  2. steam vents (and clouds)
  3. large steam vent, new vent pits are occasionally created explosively.
  4. another large steam vent
• Stop, Aratiatia Dam, Wairakei region
  1. Lord of the Rings film crew, robotic camera to descend steel cable into gorge below dam
  2. release of water from the dam
  3. increasing flow
  4. released water beginning to fill gorge pool
  5. pool filling 2
  6. pool filling 3
  7. pool filling 4
  8. water surging in rapids below pool
  9. view of filled pool and rapids
• Stop, Wairakei Power Station, New Zealand's oldest geothermal power station
  1. view 1
  2. view 2
  3. view 3
• Stop, Whakamaru Dam
  1. power station
  2. downstream from power station, cliffs are entirely 200,000-year-old ignimbrite deposits
  3. lake upstream from power station, cliff probably dacite volcanic plug in rhyolite host
• Stop, Hauraki Peat mine, Moanatuatua peat was a raised peat bog (ombrogenous). The deposit is about 1 meter above sea level, but the peat is about 20 meters thick. It is being mined for potting soil.
  1. the mine
  2. the peat
• Stop 4, Mirand, on the Thames estuary,
  1. beach or chenier ridge separating mangrove tidal flats to the right and the Firth of Thames to the left.
  2. close-up photo of the shell accumulation on the narrow strand; shells mostly bivalves.

References

All information came from the field trip leaders and from the following guidebook:

Cooke, P.J. and Hendy, A., 2002, Selected Mesozoic and Cenozoic faunas and landscapes, North Island of New Zealand, 20 June - 4 July 2002. First International Palaeontological Congress, IPC2002 - Australasia, Pre-5 Field Excursion Guidebook. Macquarie University, Sydney, 20 p.

All misinformation can be entirely attributed to me and I welcome corrections. Thank you. Don Chesnut

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