Foulden Hills Palynology 77.075–55.624 m. (Miocene of New Zealand)

Where: New Zealand (45.5° S, 170.2° E: paleocoordinates 50.9° S, 178.0° W)

• coordinate stated in text

When: Spinitricolpites latispinosus pollen zone, Foulden Hills Diatomite Formation, Early/Lower Miocene (23.0 - 16.0 Ma)

• In this paper we present a detailed record of pollen, spores and fresh-water algae from 26 samples from a 183 m long drill core through the biogenic diatomaceous and volcaniclastic sediments of Foulden Maar, providing an unparalleled glimpse into the rich terrestrial biota of early Miocene New Zealand.

•All samples from 77.075–55.624 m (6 samples).

•Based on palynology the age of the site is latest uppermost Rhoipites waimumuensis Zone to lower early Proteacidites isopogiformis Zone (New Zealand local stages, late Waitakian–early Otaian, ~23 Ma), agreeing with radiometric dates.

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: crater lake; lithified diatomite and mudstone

• "Gordon (1959a) thought this "Middlemarch diatomite" was deposited in a conventional tectonic basin formed by local faulting, but Coombs et al. (1986, p. 301) inferred that the basin is one of several short-lived explosive volcanic vents or maars in eastern and Central Otago, formed during an early phase of the Dunedin Volcanic Group volcanism." Bannister et al., 2005 (Information taken from Collection 50035).

•All samples from 77.075–55.624 m (6 samples) come from laminated diatomite.

•The deep crater formed in Otago Schist basement of Jurassic age and is surrounded by schist and remnants of volcanic plugs, dikes, and flows of the Waipiata Volcanic Field that was active in the area during the early to middle Miocene (Nemeth and White, 2003; Coombs et al., 2008). Foulden Maar contains laminated, biogenically varved diatomite (Lindqvist and Lee, 2009) deposited under a warm temperate to subtropical climatic regime evidenced by the presence of environmentally significant taxa and analysis of leaf morphology (e.g., Pocknall and Mildenhall, 1984; Mildenhall and Pocknall, 1989; Reichgelt et al., 2013).

• "Collected from a finely varved, leaf- bearing diatomite…" Bannister et al., 2005 (Information taken from Collection 50035)

Size class: microfossils

Preservation: original sporopollenin

Collected in 2009

Collection methods: chemical,

• All palynology samples taken from the FM2 core have been assigned the NZ FRF number I43/f116 (NZ Map Grid Infomap I43 reference 927162: 45.5300° S, 170.2195° E).

• In 2009, eight samples were collected at irregular intervals from one of two new drill cores (Foulden Maar 2 FM2) in the diatomite to determine vegetation changes from the time of inception of the lake to the top of the eroded section. Subsequently, a further 18 samples were collected from FM2 to determine the extent of pollen, algal and charcoal distribution detected in the original drill core samples. Finally, a series of eight outcrop samples were collected from alternate dark and light layers towards the top of the sec- tion to investigate whether differences in pollen deposition occurred between suspected summer and winter couplets.

Primary reference: D. C. Mildenhall, E. M. Kennedy, D. E. Lee, U. Kaulfuss, and J. M. Bannister. 2014. Palynology of the early Miocene Foulden Maar, Otago, New Zealand: Diversity following destruction. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology (204)27-42 [C. Jaramillo/C. Jaramillo]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 169167: authorized by Carlos Jaramillo, entered by Carlos Jaramillo on 08.05.2015

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

unclassified
  -
Polypodiopsida
 Cyatheales - Polypodiidae
Cyathea type scaly tree fern
 Coniferales - Podocarpaceae
Dicotyledoneae
  -
Triorites orbiculatus McIntyre 1965
Moraceae/Urticaceae
Angiospermae
 Santalales - Loranthaceae
Loranthaceae indet. de Jussieu 1808 mistletoe
 Gentianales - Rubiaceae
Palaeocoprosmadites zelandiae Pocknall 1982 coffee
 Fagales - Casuarinaceae
 Fagales - Nothofagaceae
 Malpighiales - Euphorbiaceae
Mallotus spp. Loureiro 1790 spurge
Mallotus/Macaranga
 Rosids - Moraceae
Moraceae indet. Link 1835 mulberry
Moraceae/ Urticaceae