An interglacial macrofossil flora from Schulz Creek, north Westland, New Zealand

Abstract

On a raised shoreline assumed to be of early Kaihinu Interglacial age (more than 100 kyr ago), in north Westland, well-preserved plant fossils are exposed in sediments in a road-cutting. They were probably deposited in a small freshwater lagoon behind a beach ridge, on a prograded shore. The fossils are robust (wood, coriaceous leaves, tough fruit, or seeds); almost certainly they represent only a proportion of the flora in Schulz Creek catchment at the time. The species composition (including Dacrydium cupressinum, Podocarpus hallii, Prumnopitys ferruginea, small conifers, Nothofagus spp., Metrosideros robusta, Elaeocarpus dentatus) suggests that the climate when the deposit was laid down was probably as mild as it is now. Most of the plant species of the fossil flora occur today in Schulz Creek catchment and the remainder live nearby.

Keywords:

• Kaihinu Interglacial
• Rutherglen Formation
• raised shoreline
• plant macrofossils
• forest
• mild climate