Roger Cooper: paleobiologist and geologist

Roger Cooper (1939–2020) was one of the pre-eminent New Zealand paleontologists and geologists of the twentieth century. As with many scientists of his generation, he developed a broad suite of skills and his research ranged widely – a testament to his talents but also a function of the small number of Earth scientists studying New Zealand's complex geology. Although he always understood that science builds on a foundation of careful observation and description – and he made huge contributions in this regard – he also sought and applied innovative analytical approaches. Roger was open, kind and generous as a mentor, colleague, collaborator and manager. The present collection of papers pays homage to the many ways that Roger's research advanced understanding of Zealandia's geological history and wider questions in paleobiology, and several of these papers are written by people whose careers were enriched by their interactions with Roger.

Accurate and precise field observation underpins much of Earth science. Roger knew this, but for him field work was also an opportunity to rejuvenate mind and body and immerse himself in the living world; his joy of life always shone brightest when he was in the field. As a second-year geology undergraduate student at Victoria University of Wellington, he was fortunate to join Gerald Lensen of the New Zealand Geological Survey (now GNS Science) for a three-month expedition to produce a geological map of the Clarence valley area in the South Island (Lensen 1962). The field work was challenging but hugely educational for Roger; in his own, understated words, ‘I was a pretty raw second year student when we started and learned a lot from the experience’ (Roger Cooper, written pers. comm. 2017; see obituary by Crampton, Beu, et al. 2020a). The paper herein by Crampton (2023) revisits the geology of the northern Clarence valley area, covering a small part of the territory mapped by Roger, and uses new observations of field relationships to interpret the Cretaceous tectonostratigraphic history; these new data bear on the contentious issue of exactly when Mesozoic subduction terminated on the margin of Gondwana.

By the time he had finished his PhD, supervised by Harold Wellman, Roger had completed field seasons in the Antarctic, Otago, Southland, and the Golden Bay area, and had spent 18 months on the island of Borneo (Crampton, Beu, et al. 2020). His growing family joined him for field work in the Golden Bay area, based in Magnesite Hut in the Cobb valley. Helicopter trips to remote ridges, caves full of moa bones, and mountain lakes and streams kept children happy and formed their long-lasting affinities with the New Zealand bush and upland country. Roger's Borneo jungle experience equipped him with a range of distinctive long-distance bush communication calls, his faithful parang (a type of machete made from a car leaf spring), and the ability to make a fire under any conditions, all of which translated well to New Zealand fieldwork. He would return from each long day to apply methylated spirits liberally to sunburns and indulge in a glass of Old Moutere cider with colleagues and students. His son Alan recalls numerous stops to inspect road cuttings, made worthwhile by the barely suppressed excitement when things like corals were discovered unexpectedly in Upper Ordovician sandstone (on the Cobb valley road), and this, in turn, led to Alan's own passion for field-based science.

Roger's career at the New Zealand Geological Survey began in 1969 and was focussed initially on the taxonomy, biostratigraphy, evolution, biogeography and paleobiology of early Paleozoic fossils in New Zealand. Much of this research was concerned with graptolites (e.g. Cooper 1973, 1979a; Cooper and McLaurin 1974) but, in collaboration with others, his interests quickly expanded to include conodonts, brachiopods, molluscs, trilobites and graptolites from New Zealand, Australia, Antarctica and Spitsbergen (e.g. Cooper and Druce 1975; Shergold et al. 1976). One hallmark of Roger's career was the life-long collaborations and friendships he developed with scientists around the world. An early example was his research with Richard Fortey at the British Museum (now the Natural History Museum, London), which resulted in the description of early Paleozoic graptolites from Spitsbergen (e.g. Cooper and Fortey 1982), interpretations of graptolite paleobiology (e.g. Cooper et al. 1991), and one of the earliest attempts at a phylogenetic analysis of an entirely extinct, fossil clade (Fortey and Cooper 1986). The paper in the present issue by Jago et al. (2023) continues this paleontological legacy and documents an enigmatic early Cambrian macrofossil from South Australia. Although the affinities of this curious fossil cannot be demonstrated with certainty, such description is important given the overwhelming, northern hemisphere bias in existing knowledge of Earth's biotic history (Raja et al. 2022), a distortion that will only be overcome by continued, careful description of regional fossil faunas and floras from other parts of the globe. In a similar vein, the paper by Pocknall et al. (2023) reviews and updates the taxonomy, biogeography and paleoenvironmental distribution of a widespread Paleogene pollen species with affinities to the living mangrove palm. This paper is an example of fundamental paleontological description, so valued by Roger, which informs derivative studies of the history of evolution, extinction and environmental change across the globe.

Roger's life-long contributions to understanding of New Zealand's early Paleozoic history began in the 1960s whilst undertaking his MSc and PhD on Ordovician and Silurian rocks and fossils in northwest Nelson. As he continued his research of early Paleozoic fossils during the 1970s, and having accompanied his New Zealand Geological Survey colleague George Grindley on mapping field trips in northwest Nelson, Roger became actively engaged with the stratigraphy, structure and tectonic interpretation of New Zealand's early Paleozoic rocks. At that time, George Grindley had established the regional lithostratigraphy and structure of these rocks, whereby a Cambrian volcanic-sedimentary belt (Central Belt) was interpreted as an allochthonous stack of recumbent folds and nappes that were thrust northwards over an autochthon of Ordovician (Western Belt) and Ordovician to Silurian (Eastern Belt) non-volcanic sedimentary rocks (Grindley 1978). Having examined much of the early Paleozoic rock of northwest Nelson, and with discovery of further fossils, Roger proposed an alternate model to the allochthonous Central Belt model of Grindley, whereby the Central Belt shared a similar Ordovician stratigraphy with the Eastern Belt and was subsequently uplifted to the west along reverse faults and thrust against the Western Belt (Cooper 1979b). The subsequent advent of the ‘tectonostratigraphic terrane’ concept led Roger to develop his alternate model with the recognition of two terranes: the Buller Terrane (Western Belt), and the Takaka Terrane (Central and Eastern belts). The stratigraphic and structural evidence for these two terranes is provided in a key paper (Cooper 1989a) and, to this day, understanding of Zealandia's early Paleozoic history is still based on those two terranes.

Detailed mapping of early Paleozoic rocks in northwest Nelson, and in particular the Cobb valley area during the 1970s and 1980s, put Roger in the best position to be the compiler of early Paleozoic geology for the 1:250,000 quarter-million map (QMAP) of Nelson (Rattenbury et al. 1998). Armed with his own fossil discoveries, conodont collections by John Simes (New Zealand Geological Survey), and studies by several MSc and PhD students that he mentored, Roger was able to provide a much-improved stratigraphy of the Takaka Terrane in the accompanying QMAP text. Field sheets of detailed mapping undertaken by Roger in the Cobb valley and Springs Junction areas are lodged in the mapping archives of GNS Science. Selected maps of the Cobb valley and a comprehensive stratigraphy and geochemical dataset of the Cambrian volcanic-sedimentary succession are provided by Münker and Cooper (1999). A summary map of the Springs Junction Early Paleozoic rocks is found in Zhen et al. (2011). The paper herein by Münker et al. (2023) provides an updated Cambrian volcanic-sedimentary stratigraphy and map from the Baton Valley area. New geochemistry, including state-of-the-art trace element and Hf-Nd isotope data, provides information on the tectono-magmatic evolution of the Takaka Terrane.

When Roger defined the Buller and Takaka terranes of New Zealand, his focus was naturally on rocks he knew well in northwest Nelson and Westland, yet equivalent rocks also occur southeast of the Alpine Fault in Fiordland. Ordovician sedimentary rocks of Cape Providence and Preservation Inlet in southern Fiordland were known for a long time to contain graptolites and were correlated with Ordovician graptolite-bearing successions of northwest Nelson (Benson and Keble 1936). Roger visited southern Fiordland briefly in the early 1980′s but his key terrane paper (Cooper 1989a) relied on the unpublished work of Ward (1984, 1986) for description of correlative Buller and Takaka rocks. The lithostratigraphy of metasediments recognised in the PhDs of Ward (1984) and Powell (2006), together with data gathered during QMAP Fiordland mapping (Turnbull et al. 2010), is synthesised here in the paper by Jongens et al. (2023). This paper also discusses southern Fiordland correlations with the Buller and Takaka terranes of northwest Nelson.

It has long been recognised that the Ordovician graptolitic succession in New Zealand closely matches that found in southeastern Australia (Benson and Keble 1936), and early in his career, Roger began to explore this relationship (Cooper 1975). This investigation was soon widened to the broader Gondwana counterparts of Tasmania and Antarctica (Laird et al. 1977; Cooper and Grindley 1982; Cooper et al. 1983; Cooper and Tulloch 1992). Roger led expeditions in Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica during the 1974–5 and 1981–2 field seasons. Very recently, Roger was a co-author of an extensive synthesis of the East Gondwana convergent margin from the Neoproterozoic to Devonian (Glen and Cooper 2021). Continuing in this vein, a review paper in the present issue by Bradshaw (2023) focusses on that convergent margin with respect to the Ross-Delamerian Orogen during the late Neoproterozoic and Cambrian. The review paper highlights complexity along this margin from southeast Australia through Tasmania and New Zealand to the Transantarctic Mountains, with the aim of stimulating more research to resolve outstanding problems.

Roger played an important role during the 1980s in general discussions of the then-new terrane concept, extending ideas that were developed in the key Buller and Takaka terrane paper noted above (Cooper 1989a). In the same year as that paper, Roger published a wide-ranging standalone discussion of various aspects of New Zealand terrane concepts, age, content, interpretation, and paleogeography, including descriptions of the Brook Street Terrane and other Eastern Province terranes (Cooper 1989b). The paper herein by Campbell et al. (2022) presents new geochronological and geophysical interpretations of the Permian Brook Street Terrane. New isotope age constraints reinforce the Permian part of the updated New Zealand geological timescale in which Roger also played a leading role (see below). Detrital zircon data from Jurassic Brook Street sandstones support a post-Permian fore-arc tectonic setting along the Gondwana margin, similar to the interpretation foreshadowed by Cooper (1989b).

The biostratigraphy of early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks within the Buller and Takaka terranes was established by Roger's research and has been utilised in the paper by Adams and Campbell (2023) to examine the detrital zircon ages and detrital zircon grain shapes within those rocks and compare them with counterparts in southeast Australia. The results indicate the possibility of a discrete Rodinia basement continental block that was providing detritus to early Paleozoic rocks of Zealandia. Supported by evidence from trilobite and brachiopod faunal provinces, this Rodinia basement may have been adjacent to South China.

In the latter half of his career, after he was promoted to Chief Paleontologist at the Geological Survey, Roger's research expanded in new directions. In an early study combining paleontological, geological, and genetic data, he was able to work together with his son Alan on the impacts on the terrestrial biota of Zealandia's near-total submergence during the Oligocene about 25 Ma (Cooper and Cooper 1995), a topic that subsequently became the focus of Marsden-funded research by others and a decade-long, highly productive discussion in the scientific and popular literature between geologists, paleontologists, and biologists.

Another focus of Roger's research over this latter period was the comprehensive review and update of the New Zealand geological timescale that was published as a GNS monograph and wallchart (Cooper 2004). Although some details of timescale calibration have inevitably been updated, much of the information in this monograph has not been superseded and it remains the key reference relating to the New Zealand geological timescale. At the same time, and in collaboration with Professor Pete Sadler (University of California, Riverside), Roger pioneered the use of innovative, quantitative methods in biostratigraphic correlation and timescale calibration, in the context both of New Zealand sedimentary basin analysis (Cooper et al. 2001) and international timescale calibration. With respect to the latter, between 1993 and 2000 Roger chaired the Cambrian-Ordovician Boundary Working Group of the International Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy (see Crampton et al. 2020a) and subsequently he used quantitative biostratigraphic approaches to calibrate the revised Ordovician and Silurian geological timescales (Cooper and Sadler 2005; Melchin et al. 2005).

Roger contributed many substantial and highly regarded studies in the areas of macroevolution and the nature of the fossil record, using both New Zealand's wonderful archive of Cenozoic molluscs (e.g. Crampton et al. 2003; Cooper et al. 2006; Foote et al. 2007) and the timeline of graptolite evolution and extinction developed with Pete Sadler, which remains one of the highest resolution macroevolutionary time series available for any fossil group, anywhere in the world (e.g. Cooper et al. 2014; Crampton et al. 2016, 2018; Crampton et al. 2020b). Roger's corpus of work concerning macroevolution and the fossil record reflects his ability to synthesise, and realise the potential of, diverse, large, and complex datasets. Such is the contribution of Strogen et al. (2023), presented herein, that images in unprecedented detail Zealandia's evolving geography over the past 100 Ma. These new paleogeographic maps have been built in the open-source tectonic reconstruction software GPlates (Boyden et al. 2011; Müller et al. 2018) so that they can be updated readily as new data and interpretations become available. These maps would have appealed to Roger, who immediately would have seen their potential to stimulate the next generation of paleobiologists and Earth historians to ask, and answer, new questions about the evolution of Zealandia and its life.

In summary, the papers presented in this special issue of the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics reflect, in some small way, the breadth of Roger Cooper's contributions to Zealandian and global paleobiology and geology. His scientific legacy will continue to influence Earth scientists for decades to come, both through the archive of more than 900 fossil localities he collected and documented in the New Zealand Fossil Record File (https://fred.org.nz/fred/index.jsp; Clowes et al. 2021), and through his publications that continue to be cited hundreds of times a year.

Acknowledgments

We thank Richard Fortey and John Simes for their recollections of working with Roger, and all the contributors to this special issue. We also thank Robyn Cooper for providing the list of publications given below. For helpful reviews of earlier drafts of this editorial, we thank Hamish Campbell, Nick Mortimer, and Dominic Strogen.

Key publications by Roger Cooper

This list includes all key, peer-reviewed publications authored or co-authored by Roger Cooper. They are listed in order of publication date (from oldest) and, within years, by author name.

Blank HR, Cooper RA, Wheeler RH, Willis IAG. 1963. Geology of the Koettlitz Blue Glacier region, Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand Geology. 2:79–100

Cooper RA. 1965. Lower Paleozoic rocks between Upper Takaka and Riwaka, north-west Nelson. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 8:49–61.

Cooper RA. 1968. Lower and Middle Paleozoic fossil localities of Northwest Nelson. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand Geology. 6:75–89.

Bulman OMB, Cooper RA. 1969. On the supposed occurrence of Triograptus in New Zealand. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand Geology. 6:213–218.

Cooper RA. 1970. Tectonic distortion of a syntype of Isograptus forcipiformis latus Ruedeman. Journal of Paleontology. 44:980–983.

Cooper RA, Wright AJ. 1970. Silurian fossils from New Zealand. Nature. 228(5267):153–154.

Cooper RA. 1971. New Middle and Upper Ordovician graptolite localities, North West Nelson, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 14:242–248.

Cooper RA. 1971. The identity of Isograptus caduceus (Salter) sensu stricto. Journal of Paleontology. 45: 902–909.

Cooper RA, Wright AJ. 1972. Silurian rocks and fossils at Hailes Knob, North West Nelson, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 15:318–335.

Strusz DL, Cooper RA. 1972. New Zealand. In: Strusz DL, editor. Correlation of the Lower Devonian rocks of Australasia. Journal of the Geological Society of Australia. 18: 427–455.

Bergström SM, Cooper RA. 1973. Didymograptus bifidus and the trans-Atlantic correlation of the Lower Ordovician. Lethaia. 6: 313–340

Cooper RA. 1973. Taxonomy and evolution of Isograptus Moberg in Australasia. Palaeontology. 16: 45–115.

Cooper RA. 1974. Age of the Greenland and Waiuta Groups, South Island, New Zealand (note). New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 17:955–962

Cooper RA, McLaurin AN. 1974. Apiograptus gen. nov. and the origin of the biserial graptoloid rhabdosome. Special Papers in Palaeontology. 13:75–85.

Cooper RA. 1975. New Zealand and south-east Australia in the early Paleozoic. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 18:1–20.

Cooper RA, Druce EC. 1975. Lower Ordovician sequence and conodonts, Mount Patriarch, North-West Nelson, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 18:551–582.

Cooper RA, Jago JB, Mackinnon DI, Simes JE, Braddock PE. 1976. Cambrian fossils from the Bowers Group, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica (preliminary note). New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 19:283–288.

Shergold JH, Cooper RA, MacKinnon DI, Yochelson EL. 1976. Late Cambrian Brachiopoda, Mollusca, and Trilobita from northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Palaeontology. 19: 247–291.

Laird MG, Cooper RA, Jago JB. 1977. New data on the lower Palaeozoic sequence of northern Victoria Land, Antarctica, and its significance for Australian-Antarctic relations in the Palaeozoic. Nature. 265(5590):107–110.

Cooper RA, Waterhouse JB. 1978. Late Precambrian - Devonian: paleontology. In: Suggate RP, Stevens GR, Te Punga MT, editors. The Geology of New Zealand. Government Printer, Wellington; p. 60–68.

Cooper RA. 1978. Interpretation of the fossil record - Early Paleozoic. In: Suggate RP, Stevens GR, Te Punga MT, editors. The Geology of New Zealand. Government Printer, Wellington; p. 704–706.

Cooper RA. 1979. Sequence and correlation of Tremadoc graptolite assemblages. Alcheringa. 3:7–19.

Cooper RA. 1979. Lower Palaeozoic rocks of New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 9:29–84.

Cooper RA. 1979. Ordovician geology and graptolite faunas of the Aorangi mine area, north west Nelson, New Zealand. New Zealand Geological Survey Paleontological Bulletin. 47:1–125.

Cooper RA, Druce EC, Webby BD. 1979. Synopsis of selected sections at the Cambrian/Ordovician boundary in Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. In: Bassett MG, Dean W, editors. Cambrian Ordovician boundary sections and correlation. University of Wales Press; p 211–227.

Cooper RA, Stewart I. 1979. The Tremadoc graptolite sequence of Lancefield, Victoria. Palaeontology. 22: 767–797.

Cooper RA. 1980. Contributions on New Zealand and Antarctica. In: Webby BD, 11 other authors. The Ordovician System in Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. Correlation chart and explanatory notes. International Union of Geological Sciences Publication. 6:1–70.

Cooper RA, Fortey RA. 1982. The Ordovician graptolites of Spitsbergen. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Geology. 36:157–302.

Cooper RA, Grindley GW, editors. 1982. Late Proterozoic to Devonian sequences of southeastern Australia, Antarctica and New Zealand and their correlation. Geological Society of Australia Special Publication. 9:1–103.

Cooper RA, Jago JB, Mackinnon DI, Shergold JH, Vidal G. 1982. Late Precambrian and Cambrian fossils from northern Victoria Land and their stratigraphic implications. In: Craddock C, editor. Antarctic Geoscience. International Union of Geological Sciences Series B. 4:629–633.

Cooper RA, Landis CA, Lemasurier WE, Speden IG. 1982. Geologic history and regional patterns in New Zealand and West Antarctica - their paleotectonic and paleogeographic significance. In: Craddock C, editor. Antarctic Geoscience. International Union of Geological Sciences Series B. 4:43–53.

Cooper RA, Fortey RA. 1983. Development of the graptoloid rhabdosome. Alcheringa. 7(3):201–221.

Cooper RA. 1984. Cobb Valley, a geological guide. Geological Society of New Zealand Guide Book. 6:1–48.

Cooper RA, Lindholm K. 1984. The phylogenetic relationships of the graptolites Tetragraptus phyllograptoides and Pseudophyllograptus cor. Geologiska Förenigens Förhandlingar. 106(3):279–291.

Shergold JH, Cooper RA. 1984. Late Cambrian trilobites from the Mariner Group, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. BMR Journal of Australian Geology and Geophysics. 9(2):91–106.

Shergold JH, Jago JB, Cooper RA, Laurie JR, editors. 1985. Cambrian system in Australia, Antarctica, and New Zealand. International Union of Geological Sciences Publication. 9:1–85.

Cooper RA. 1986. New Zealand Paleozoic stages and their symbols. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 29:263–268.

Fortey RA, Cooper RA. 1986. A phylogenetic classification of the graptoloids. Palaeontology. 29:631–654.

Cooper RA, Ni YN. 1986. Taxonomy, relationships and phylogeny of Pseudisograptus Beavis. Palaeontology. 29:313–363.

Rowell AJ, Rees MN, Cooper RA, Pratt BR. 1988. Early Paleozoic history of the central transantarctic mountains: Evidence from the Holyoake Range, Antarctica. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 31:397–404.

Cooper RA. 1989. Early Paleozoic terranes of New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 19:73–112.

Cooper RA. 1989. New Zealand tectonostratigraphic terranes and panbiogeography. New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 16:699–712.

Cooper RA, Keyes IW. 1989. New Zealand. In: Webby BD, compiler. Fossil collections of the world: an international guide. International Palaeontological Association, Washington; p. 88–93.

Cooper RA. 1990. Interpretation of tectonically deformed fossils. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 33:321–332.

Cooper RA, Begg JG, Bradshaw JD. 1990. Cambrian trilobites from Reilly Ridge, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica, and their stratigraphic significance. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 33:55–66.

Cooper RA, Fortey RA, Lindholm K. 1991. Latitudinal and depth zonation of early Ordovician graptolites. Lethaia. 24(2):199–218.

Cooper RA, Lindholm K. 1990. A precise world-wide correlation of Early Ordovician graptolite sequences. Geological Magazine. 127:497–525.

Cooper RA, Shergold JH. 1991. Palaeozoic invertebrates of Antarctica. In: Tingey RJ, editor. Geology of Antarctica. Oxford University Press; p. 455–486.

Webby BD, VandenBerg AHM, Cooper RA, Stewart I, Shergold JH, Nicoll CF, Burrett CF, Stait B, Cooper BJ, Laurie J, Sherwin L. 1991. Subdivisions of the Ordovician System in Australia. In: Barnes CR, Williams HS, editors. Advances in Ordovician geology. Geological Survey of Canada Paper. 90-99; p. 47–57.

Cooper RA. 1992. A relative timescale for the early Ordovician derived from depositional rates of graptolite shales. In: Webby BD, Laurie JR, editors. Global Perspectives on Ordovician Geology; p.3–21.

Cooper RA, Tulloch AJ. 1992. Early Palaeozoic terranes in New Zealand and their relationship to the Lachlan Fold Belt. Tectonophysics. 214(1-4):129–144.

VandenBerg AHM, Cooper RA. 1992. The ordovician graptolite sequence of Australasia. Alcheringa. 16(1):33–85.

Cooper RA, Millener PR. 1993. The New Zealand biota: historical background and new research. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 8(12):429–433.

Cooper RA. 1994. Age of the Greenland and Waiuta groups, South Island, New Zealand (note). New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 17(4):955–962.

Wright AJ, Cooper RA. 1994. Cambrian and Ordovician faunas and stratigraphy, Mt Patriarch, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 37(4):437–476.

Yunan N, Cooper RA. 1994. The graptolite Glossograptus emmons and its proximal structure. Alcheringa. 18(1-2):161–167.

Cooper A, Cooper RA. 1995. The oligocene bottleneck and New Zealand biota: genetic record of a past environmental crisis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 261(1362):293–302.

Munker C, Cooper RA. 1995. The island arc setting of a New Zealand Cambrian volcano-sedimentary sequence: implications for the evolution of the SW Pacific Gondwana fragments. Journal of Geology. 103(6):687–700.

Cooper RA, Jago JB, Begg JG. 1996. Cambrian trilobites from Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica, and their stratigraphic implications. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 39:363–387.

Roser BP, Cooper RA, Nathan S, Tulloch AJ. 1996. Reconnaissance sandstone geochemistry, provenance, and tectonic setting of the lower Paleozoic terranes of the West Coast and Nelson, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 39:1–16.

Cooper RA, Maletz J, Haifeng W, Erdtmann BD. 1998. Taxonomy and evolution of earliest Ordovician graptoloids. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift. 78:3–32.

Rattenbury MS, Cooper RA, Johnston MR, compilers. 1998. Geology of the Nelson area. Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences 1:250,000 Geological Map. 14:map + 1–73.

Cooper RA. 1999. Ecostratigraphy, zonation and global correlation of earliest Ordovician planktic graptolites. Lethaia. 32(1):1–14.

Münker C, Cooper RA. 1999. The Cambrian arc complex of the Takaka Terrane, New Zealand: An integrated stratigraphical, paleontological and geochemical approach. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 42:415–445.

Webby BD, Percival IG, Edgecombe GD, Cooper RA, VandenBerg AHM, Pickett JW, Pojeta J, Playford G, Winchester-Seeto T, Young GC, Zhen YY, Nicoll RS, Ross JPR, Schallreuter R. 2000. Ordovician palaeobiogeography of Australasia. In: Wright AJ, Young GC, Talent JA, Laurie JR, editors. Palaeobiogeography of Australasian Faunas and Floras. Association of Australasian Palaeontologists Memoir. 23: 63–126.

Cooper RA, Crampton JS, Raine JI, Gradstein FM, Morgans HEG, Sadler PM, Strong CP, Waghorn D, Wilson GJ. 2001. Quantitative biostratigraphy of the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand: a deterministic and probabilistic approach. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin. 85(8):1469–1498.

Cooper RA, Nowlan GS, Williams SH. 2001. Global stratotype section and point for base of the Ordovician system. Episodes. 24(1):19–28.

Crampton JS, Beu AG, Cooper RA, Jones CM, Marshall B, Maxwell PA. 2003. Estimating the rock volume bias in paleobiodiversity studies. Science. 301:358–360.

Sadler PM, Cooper RA. 2003. Best-fit intervals and consensus sequences; comparisons of the resolving power of traditional biostratigraphy and computer-assisted correlation. In: Harries PJ, editor. High-resolution approaches in stratigraphic paleontology. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers; p. 49–94.

Cocks LRM, Cooper RA. 2004. Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) shelly fossils from New Zealand and their significance. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 47:71–80.

Cooper RA, 2004 Measures of diversity. In: Webby BD, Droser ML, Paris F, editors. The great Ordovician biodiversification event. Columbia University Press; p. 52–57.

Cooper RA, editor. 2004. The New Zealand geological timescale. Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Monograph. 22:1–284.

Cooper RA, Maletz J, Taylor L, Zalasiewicz JA. 2004. Estimates of Ordovician mean standing diversity in low, middle and high paleolatitudes. In: Webby BD, Droser ML, Paris F, editors. The great Ordovician biodiversification event. Columbia University Press; p. 281–293.

Sadler PM, Cooper RA. 2004. Calibration of the Ordovician timescale. In: Webby BD, Droser ML, editors. The great Ordovician biodiversification event. New York: Columbia University Press; p. 48–51.

Webby BD, Cooper RA, Bergström SM, Paris F. 2004. Stratigraphic framework and time slices. In: Webby BD, Droser ML, Paris F, editors. The great Ordovician biodiversification event. Columbia University Press; p. 41–47.

Cooper RA, Sadler P. 2005. The Ordovician Period. In: Gradstein F, Ogg JG, Smith, AG, editors. A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press; p. 165–187.

Gradstein FM, Cooper RA, Sadler P. 2005. Biostratigraphy: Time scales from graphic and quantitative methods. A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press; p. 49–54.

Jago JB, Cooper RA. 2005. A Glyptagnostus stolidotus trilobite fauna from the Cambrian of northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 48:661–681.

Melchin MJ, Cooper RA, Sadler P. 2005. The Silurian Period. In: Gradstein F, Ogg JG, Smith, AG, editors. A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press; p. 188–201.

Shergold J, Cooper RA. 2005. The Cambrian Period. In: Gradstein F, Ogg JG, Smith, AG, editors. A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press; p. 147–164.

Cooper RA, Maxwell PA, Crampton JS, Beu AG, Jones CM, Marshall BA. 2006. Completeness of the fossil record: estimating losses due to small body size. Geology. 34:241–244.

Crampton JS, Foote M, Beu AG, Cooper RA, Matcham I, Jones CM, Maxwell PA, Marshall B. 2006. Second-order sequence stratigraphic controls on the quality of the fossil record at an active margin: New Zealand Eocene to Recent shelf molluscs. Palaios. 21:86–105.

Crampton JS, Foote M, Beu AG, Maxwell PA, Cooper RA, Matcham I, Marshall BA, Jones CM. 2006. The ark was full! Constant to declining Cenozoic shallow marine biodiversity on an isolated midlatitude continent. Paleobiology. 32(4):509–532.

Foote M, Crampton JS, Beu AG, Marshall BA, Cooper RA, Maxwell PA, Matcham I. 2007. Rise and fall of species occupancy in Cenozoic fossil molluscs. Science. 318:1131–1134.

Foote M, Crampton JS, Beu AG, Cooper RA. 2008. On the bidirectional relationship between geographic range and taxonomic duration. Paleobiology. 34:421–433.

Sadler PM, Cooper RA. 2008. Improved resolution and quantified stratigraphic uncertainty - time scales of the future. Newsletters on Stratigraphy. 43(1):49–53.

MacFarlan DAB, Bradshaw MA, Campbell HJ, Cooper RA, Lee DE, Mackinnon DI, Waterhouse JB, Wright AJ, Robinson JH. 2009. Chapter 11, Phylum Brachiopoda; lamp shells. In: Gordon DP, editor. New Zealand inventory of biodiversity; volume one; Kingdom Animalia; Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press; p. 255–267.

Sadler PM, Cooper RA, Melchin M. 2009. High-resolution, early Paleozoic (Ordovician-Silurian) time scales. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 121(5-6):887–906.

Cooper RA, Sadler PM. 2010. Facies preference predicts extinction risk in Ordovician graptolites. Paleobiology. 36(2):167–187.

Crampton JS, Cooper RA. 2010. The state of paleontology in New Zealand. Palaeontologia Electronica. 13(2):1–9.

Crampton JS, Cooper RA, Beu AG, Foote M, Marshall BA. 2010. Biotic influences on species duration: interactions between traits in marine molluscs. Paleobiology. 36:204–223.

Crampton JS, Foote M, Cooper RA, Beu AG, Peters SE. 2011. The fossil record and spatial structuring of environments and biodiversity in the Cenozoic of New Zealand. In: Smith A, McGowan AJ, editors. Comparing the geological and fossil records: implications for biodiversity studies. London: Geological Society of London, special publications; p. 105–122.

Sadler PM, Cooper RA, Melchin MJ. 2011. Sequencing the graptoloid clade: building a global diversity curve from local range charts, regional composites and global time-lines. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society. 58(4):329–343.

Zhen YY, Cooper RA, Simes JE, Percival IG. 2011. Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) conodonts from the Maruia-Springs Junction area, New Zealand. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. 42:285–319.

Cooper RA, Rigby S, Loydell DK, Bates DEB. 2012. Palaeoecology of the Graptoloidea. Earth Science Reviews. 112(1-2):23–41.

Cooper RA, Sadler PM, Hammer O, Gradstein FM. 2012. The Ordovician Period. In: Gradstein FM, Ogg JG, Schmitz M, et al., editors. The Geologic Time Scale 2012. Boston: Elsevier; p. 489–523.

Hilgen FJ, Lourens LJ, Van Dam JA, Beu AG, Boyes AF, Cooper RA, Krijgsman W, Ogg JG, Piller WE, Wilson DS. 2012. The Neogene Period. In: Gradstein FM, Ogg JG, Schmitz M, et al., editors. The Geologic Time Scale 2012. Boston: Elsevier; p. 923–978.

Jago JB, Bentley CJ, Cooper RA. 2012. A Cambrian series 3 (Guzhangian) fauna with Centropleura from Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. 42:15–35.

Melchin MJ, Sadler PM, Cramer BD, Cooper RA, Gradstein FM, Hammer Ø. 2012. The Silurian Period. In: Gradstein FM, Ogg JG, Schmitz M, et al., editors. The Geologic Time Scale 2012. Boston: Elsevier; p. 525–558.

Peng S, Babcock LE, Cooper RA. 2012. The Cambrian Period. In: Gradstein FM, Ogg JG, Schmitz M, et al., editors. The Geologic Time Scale 2012. Boston: Elsevier; p. 437–488.

Percival IG, Simes JE, Cooper RA, Zhen YY. 2012. Middle Ordovician linguliformean brachiopods from the Maruia-Springs Junction area, New Zealand. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. 42:459–492.

Zhen YY, Cooper RA, Simes JE, Percival IG. 2012. Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) conodonts from the Maruia- Springs Junction area, New Zealand. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. 42:285–319.

Álvaro JJ, Ahlberg P, Babcock LE, Bordonaro OL, Choi DK, Cooper RA, Ergaliev GKH, Gapp IW, Pour MG, Hughes NC et al. 2013. Global Cambrian trilobite palaeobiogeography assessed using parsimony analysis of endemicity. Geological Society Memoir. 38:273–296.

Cooper RA, Sadler PM, Munnecke A, Crampton JS. 2014. Graptoloid evolutionary rates track Ordovician-Silurian global climate change. Geological Magazine. 151(2):349–364.

Percival IG, Zhen YY, Simes JE, Cooper RA. 2014. Furongian (late Cambrian) brachiopods and associated conodonts from the Takaka Terrane in the Springs Junction-Maruia area, South Island, New Zealand. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. 45:55–70.

Pojeta J, Simes JE, Cooper RA. 2014. New Zealand Cambrian and Ordovician micromolluscs. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. 45:1–16.

Sadler PM, Cooper RA, Crampton JS. 2014. High-resolution geobiologic time-lines: progress and potential, fifty years after the advent of graphic correlation. The Sedimentary Record. 12(3):4–9.

Cooper RA. 2015. Time keepers. In: Graham IJ, editor. A continent on the move: New Zealand geoscience revealed. 2nd ed. Wellington, N.Z.: Geoscience Society of New Zealand; p. 46–73.

Raine JI, Beu AG, Boyes AF, Campbell HJ, Cooper RA, Crampton JS, Crundwell MP, Hollis CJ, Morgans HEG, Mortimer N. 2015. New Zealand Geological Timescale NZGT 2015/1. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 58:398–403.

Bentley CJ, Jago JB, Cooper RA. 2016. Cambrian series 3 (Drumian) trilobites from limestone olistoliths, Reilly Ridge, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. In: Laurie JR, Percival IG, Jago JB et al., editors. Cambro-Ordovician studies VI. Canberra, ACT: Association of Australasian Palaeontologists; p. 51–74.

Crampton JS, Cooper RA, Sadler PM, Foote M. 2016. Greenhouse-icehouse transition in the Late Ordovician marks a step change in extinction regime in the marine plankton. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 113(6):1498–1503.

Boyle J, Sheets HD, Wu SY, Goldman D, Melchin MJ, Cooper RA, Sadler PM, Mitchell CE. 2017. The impact of geographic range, sampling, ecology, and time on extinction risk in the volatile clade Graptoloida. Paleobiology. 43:85–113.

Crampton JS, Meyers SR, Cooper RA, Sadler PM, Foote M, Harte D. 2018. Pacing of Paleozoic macroevolutionary rates by Milankovitch grand cycles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 115(22):5686–5691.

Foote M, Cooper RA, Crampton JS, Sadler PM. 2018. Diversity-dependent evolutionary rates in early Palaeozoic zooplankton. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 285(1873).

Foote M, Sadler PM, Cooper RA, Crampton JS. 2019. Completeness of the known graptoloid palaeontological record. Journal of the Geological Society. 176(6):1038–1055.

Jago JB, Bentley CJ, Cooper RA. 2019. Cambrian biostratigraphy of the Bowers back-arc basin, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica — A review. Palaeoworld. 28(3):276–288.

Crampton JS, Cooper RA, Foote M, Sadler PM. 2020. Ephemeral species in the fossil record? Synchronous coupling of macroevolutionary dynamics in mid-Paleozoic zooplankton. Paleobiology. 46:123–135.

Raffi I, Wade BS, Pälike H, Beu AG, Cooper RA, Crundwell MP, Krijgsman W, Moore T, Raine JI, Sardella R et al. 2020. The Neogene Period. In: Gradstein FM, Ogg JG, Schmitz MD, Ogg GM, editors. Geologic Time Scale 2020. p. 1141–1215.

Glen RA, Cooper RA. 2021. Evolution of the East Gondwana convergent margin in Antarctica, southern Australia and New Zealand from the Neoproterozoic to latest Devonian. Earth Science Reviews. 220.