Geology of Castlepoint headland & reef, Wairarapa, New Zealand
- Author
- Johnston, M.R.
- Year
- 1973
- Journal / Source
- New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics
- Volume
- 16
- Number
- 4
- Pages
- 909-916
- Summary
- Castlepoint contains the youngest known pre-Holocene rocks in coastal Wairarapa. The rocks consist of dominantly mudstone and siltstone of the Opoitian (lower Pliocene) Rangiwhakaoma Formation which is unconformably overlain by fossiliferous sandstone and limestone of the Nukumaruan (lower Pleistocene) Castlepoint Formation. They are preserved as sliver~ in the Castlepoint Fault Zone which bounds a large area of graded beds, mapped as the Whakataki Formation of Waitakian to Clifdenian (lower Miocene) age, to the west. Folding is the direct result of movement on the faults in the Castlepoint Fault Zone. Several periods of dextral transcurrent movement have occurred since the Whakataki Formation was deposited.