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Climatic Implications of Macro- and Microfossil Assemblages from Late Pleistocene Deposits in Northern New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John Ogden ,
Rewi M. Newnham ,
Jonathan G. Palmer ,
Richard G. Serra  and
Neil D. Mitchell
John Ogden
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand
Rewi M. Newnham
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand
Jonathan G. Palmer
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Science, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand
Richard G. Serra
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand
Neil D. Mitchell
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand
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Abstract

Twenty-two plant species were identified from leaves, fruits, or flowers, and 41 taxa from pollen, present in a macrofossil (leaf) layer in a peat swamp formed on Pleistocene dunes on the Aupouri Peninsula in northern New Zealand. Eight genera of gymnosperms are represented. With the exception of Lagarostrobos colensoi, all tree species abundant as macrofossils are also common as pollen. Macrofossils enabled the on-site flora to be compared with the regional flora, represented by the pollen rain. Studies on leaf decomposition rates indicate bias toward sclerophyllous species in the macrofossils. Identification to species level and treering data from preserved kauri logs allow quantitative comparisons with similar extant communities. Current climatic conditions at those analogue sites are cooler (2° to 3°C), cloudier (11%), and much wetter (85%) than those currently prevailing on the Aupouri Peninsula. Dendrochronological results also suggest that the far north of New Zealand had a cooler, cloudier, and wetter climate at the time the fossil leaf assemblage was formed. Radiocarbon dates from possibly contaminated samples suggest that a diverse mixed gymnosperm/angiosperm forest, dominated by kauri (Agathis australis), was present about (or sometime before) 41,00034,000 yr B.P., when the leaf layer was formed. Similar temperature reductions have been postulated for this period in New Zealand by other authors.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 1993 , pp. 107 - 119
Copyright
University of Washington

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