Stratigraphy and paleontology of Pliocene—Pleistocene sediments on Five Fingers Peninsula, Dusky Sound, Fiordland

Abstract

An isolated outlier of Pliocene-Pleistocene sediment on Five Fingers Peninsula, Fiord-land, has been re-examined. Further outcrops of fossiliferous marine and nonmarine sediment, including lignite, were located and contain unusual macrofauna and palynofloras respectively. All faunal (including microfaunal) and floral collections support a middle Pliocene-early Pleistocene (Waipipian-Hautawan) age. The sediments record rapid subsidence and a transgression from alluvial plain to shallow marine environments, and are fault bounded on both sides. Faulting that allowed the deposition and preservation of sediments was related to movement of the Fiordland microplate. A new pollen taxon Biplanipollis whidbeyensis n. gen., n. sp. is described.

Keywords:

• sediments
• Pliocene
• Pleistocene
• Fiordland
• coal
• paleontology
• Mollusca
• foraminifera
• palynology
• faults
• new
• taxa
• Biplanipollis whidbeyensis