Coastal Restoration Trust of New Zealand

Coastal Dune Ecosystem Reference Database

Functional traits of common New Zealand foredune species at New Brighton, Canterbury Journal Paper

Author
Verhoeven, D.; Buckley, H.L.; Curran, T.J.
Year
2014
Journal / Source
New Zealand Journal of Botany
Volume
52
Pages
460-466
Keywords
Late Quaternary, alluvial terraces, loess, tephra, paleosols, oxygen isotope stages.
Summary
All the known alluvial aggradation terraces and their cover beds in the EketahunaPahiatua districts are described. Each terrace and its corresponding gravel formation and coeval loess formation, if all are still preserved, form a set of three taking the same name. The Hukanui Terrace, Hukanui Gravel and Hukanui loess are a set that represents the Last Stadial of the Last Glaciation. Pukewhai and Eketahuna sets represent the Second Stadial and First Stadial respectively. Greenhills and Flat Top sets, and Nireaha Terrace and Gravel and Ridge Road 1 loess in order of increasing age, represent the Penultimate Glaciation. Ridge Road 2 loess and Ridge Road 3 loess have no known terrace correlatives in the Eketahuna-Pahiatua area, but probably correspond to terraces mapped in Rangitikei district and are attributed to the Antepenultimate Glaciation. Pahiatua Terrace and Gravel are attributed to the next older glaciation. Strongly developed and coloured paleosols represent the Last Interglacial and Penultimate Interglacial stages, and a white clay on top of Pahiatua Gravel probably represents the Antepenultimate Interglacial Stage. Weak paleosols mark most interstadials. Five silicic tephras are found in the loess paleosol sequence, and two of them, Aokautere Ash (20-21 ka) and Mount Curl Tephra (200-260 ka) provide the chief quantitative age control for correlation. Makakahi Tephric Paleosol, with an andesitic component, forms a prominent horizon between Eketahuna and Pukewhai loesses and is another valuable marker dated at
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