Tectonic controls on styles of sediment accumulation in the Late Cretaceous Morley Coal Measures of Ohai Coalfield, New Zealand

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane C. Shearer
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Coal Measures

What we know (and what we don't) about the petroleum prospectivity of the Northland Basin, North Island, New Zealand

2009 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Uruski
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Source Rocks ◽  
The West ◽  
Eastern Margin ◽  
Gondwana Margin ◽  
Jurassic Coal ◽  
Coal Measures

The offshore Northland Basin is a major sedimentary accumulation lying to the west of the Northland Peninsula of New Zealand. It merges with the Taranaki Basin in the south and its deeper units are separated from Deepwater Taranaki by a buried extension of the West Norfolk Ridge. Sedimentary thicknesses increase to the northwest and the Northland Basin may extend into Reinga. Its total area is at least 65,000 km2 and if the Reinga Basin is included, it may be up to 100,000 km2. As in Taranaki, petroleum systems of the Northland Basin were thought to include Cretaceous to Recent sedimentary rocks. Waka Nui–1 was drilled in 1999 and penetrated no Cretaceous sediments, but instead drilled unmetamorphosed Middle Jurassic coal measures. Economic basement may be older meta-sediments of the Murihiku Supergroup. Thick successions onlap the dipping Jurassic unit and a representative Cretaceous succession is likely to be present in the basin. Potential source rocks known to be present include the Middle Jurassic coal measures of Waka Nui–1 and the Waipawa Formation black shale. Inferred source rocks include Late Jurassic coaly rocks of the Huriwai Beds, the Early Cretaceous Taniwha Formation coaly sediments, possible Late Cretaceous coaly units and lean but thick Late Cretaceous and Paleogene marine shales. Below the voluminous Miocene volcanoes of the Northland arc, the eastern margin of the basin is dominated by a sedimentary wedge that thickens to more than two seconds two-way travel time (TWT), or at least 3,000 m, at its eastern margin and appears to have been thrust to the southwest. This is interpreted to be a Mesozoic equivalent of the Taranaki Fault, a back-thrust to subduction along the Gondwana Margin. The ages of sedimentary units in the wedge are unknown but are thought to include a basal Jurassic succession, which dips generally to the east and is truncated by an erosional unconformity. A southwestwards-prograding succession overlies the unconformity and its top surface forms a paleoslope onlapped by sediments of Late Cretaceous to Neogene ages. The upper succession in the wedge may be of Early Cretaceous age—perhaps the equivalent of the Taniwha Formation or the basal succession in Waimamaku–2. The main part of the basin was rifted to form a series of horst and graben features. The age of initial rifting is poorly constrained, but the structural trend is northwest–southeast or parallel to the Early Cretaceous rifting of Deepwater Taranaki and with the Mesozoic Gondwana margin. Thick successions overlie source units which are likely to be buried deeply enough to expel oil and gas, and more than 70 slicks have been identified on satellite SAR data suggesting an active petroleum system. Numerous structural and stratigraphic traps are present and the potential of the Northland Basin is thought to be high.

STRUCTURAL AND STRATIGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE TARANAKI BASIN, OFFSHORE NORTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND

1978 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 93 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. H. Pilaar ◽  
L. L. Wakefield
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
The West ◽  
Sedimentary Sequences ◽  
Stratigraphic Framework ◽  
Stratigraphic Evolution ◽  
Coal Measures ◽  
Block Faulting ◽  
Regressive Phase

The Taranaki Basin contains the only commercial gas and condensate fields in New Zealand. Thirteen offshore wells have been drilled, three of which delineated the Maui Field while six deep tests have been drilled onshore, one of which discovered the Kapuni Field. The geology of the Taranaki Basin is synthesised into a transgressive stratigraphic framework which was modified by two tectonic phases, initial rifting and foundering, followed by wrench faulting. The basin consists of the Western Platform and Taranaki Graben Complex. The former was a relatively stable block throughout most of the Tertiary, only affected during Late Cretaceous to Eocene times by normal block faulting. The latter is bounded to the east by the Taranaki Fault Zone which was mainly active during the Miocene. To the west, the Graben Complex generally shallows across a series of en-echelon steep normal to reverse faults which often show drastic changes in throw over short distances.Upper Cretaceous coal measures were deposited in fault angle depressions. Marine sediments were deposited in western areas by Paleocene times. A regressive phase occurred during Eocene times when coal measures were deposited in southern and eastern areas. Quartzose sandstones of these coal measures are the reservoirs in the Kapuni and Maui Fields. In Late Eocene to Oligocene times, regional submergence recommenced and mainly calcareous sediments were deposited: pelagic -rich sediments in the west, neritic limestones, sandstones and mudstones in the south and east. With the development of the Taranaki Graben Complex from the Miocene onwards, sedimentary sequences consist of graben -fill mudstones and flysch, and prograding wedges comprising the continental shelf.

Depositional influences on Re-Os systematics of Late Cretaceous–Eocene fluvio-deltaic coals and coaly mudstones, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Vol 236 ◽  
pp. 103670
Author(s):  
Enock K. Rotich ◽  
Monica R. Handler ◽  
Richard Sykes ◽  
David Selby ◽  
Sebastian Naeher
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Late Cretaceous

scholarly journals I.—A Retrospect of Palaeontology in the Last Forty Years

1904 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-157
Author(s):  
H. W.
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
The Past ◽  
Coal Measures

Reptilia et Aves.—Our two greatest Anatomists of the past century, Owen and Huxley, both contributed to this section of our palaelig;ozoological record. Owen (in 1865) described some remains of a small air-breathing vertebrate, Anthrakerpeton crassosteum, from the Coal-shales of Glamorganshire, corresponding with those described by Dawson from the Coal-measures of Nova Scotia; and in 1870 he noticed some remains of Plesiosaurus Hoodii (Owen) from New Zealand, possibly of Triaasic age.

scholarly journals Environment of Deposition and Paleogeography of the Late Cretaceous Glenburn Formation, Eastern North Island, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
James McClintock
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Tectonic Deformation ◽  
Turbidity Currents ◽  
Submarine Fan ◽  
Submarine Channels

<p>The Glenburn Formation of the East Coast of New Zealand is a Late Cretaceous sedimentary formation consisting of alternating layers of sandstone, mudstone and conglomerate. The Glenburn Formation spans a depositional timeframe of over 10 Ma, is over 1000 m thick, is regionally extensive and is possibly present over large areas offshore. For these reasons, it is important to constrain the paleoenvironment of this unit.  Late Cretaceous paleogeographic reconstructions of the East Coast Basin are, however, hampered by a number of factors, including the pervasive Neogene to modern tectonic deformation of the region, the poorly understood nature of the plate tectonic regime during the Cretaceous, and a lack of detailed sedimentological studies of most of the region’s Cretaceous units. Through detailed mapping of the Glenburn Formation, this study aims to improve inferences of regional Cretaceous depositional environments and paleogeography.  Detailed facies based analysis was undertaken on several measured sections in eastern Wairarapa and southern Hawke’s Bay. Information such as bed thickness, grain size and sedimentary structures were recorded in order to identify distinct facies. Although outcrop is locally extensive, separate outcrop localities generally lie in different thrust blocks, which complicates comparisons of individual field areas and prevents construction of the large-scale, three-dimensional geometry of the Glenburn Formation.  Glenburn Formation consists of facies deposited by sediment gravity flows that were primarily turbidity currents and debris flows. Facies observed are consistent with deposition on a prograding submarine fan system. There is significant variation in facies both within and between sections. Several distinct submarine fan architectural components are recognised, such as fan fringes, fan lobes, submarine channels and overbank deposits. Provenance and paleocurrent indicators are consistent with deposition having occurred on several separate submarine fans, and an integrated regional paleogeographic reconstruction suggests that deposition most likely occurred in a fossil trench following the mid-Cretaceous cessation of subduction along the Pacific-facing margin of Gondwana.</p>

The Cretaceous and Paleocene pleurotomariid (Gastropoda: Vetigastropoda) fauna of Seymour Island, Antarctica

2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 750-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Harasewych ◽  
Anton Oleinik ◽  
William Zinsmeister
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
South America ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Southern India ◽  
New Combination ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Status ◽  
Seymour Island

Leptomaria antipodensis and Leptomaria hickmanae are described from the Upper Cretaceous [Maastrichtian] Lopez de Bertodano Formation, Seymour Island, and represent the first Mesozoic records of the family Pleurotomariidae from Antarctica. Leptomaria stillwelli, L. seymourensis, Conotomaria sobralensis and C. bayeri, from the Paleocene [Danian], Sobral Formation, Seymour Island, are described as new. Leptomaria larseniana (Wilckens, 1911) new combination, also from the Sobral Formation, is redescribed based on better-preserved material. The limited diversity of the pleurotomariid fauna of Seymour Island is more similar to that of the Late Cretaceous faunas of Australia and New Zealand in terms of the number of genera and species, than to the older, more diverse faunas of South America, southern India, or northwestern Madagascar, supporting the status of the Weddelian Province as a distinct biogeographic unit. The increase in the species richness of this fauna during the Danian may be due to the final fragmentation of Gondwana during this period.

Bicarinellata a new name for Bicarinella Rode, Lieberman, and Rowell, 2003 (Arthopoda, Bradoriida) preoccupied by Bicarinella Waterhouse, 1966 (Mollusca, Gastropoda) and Bicarinella Akopyan, 1976 (Mollusca, Gastropoda)

2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (6) ◽  
pp. 1220-1220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alycia L. Stigall
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Type Species ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Zoological Nomenclature ◽  
Early Cambrian ◽  
International Code ◽  
New Name ◽  
Valid Genus ◽  
The One

The genus Bicarinella Rode et al., 2003 was erected for a new hipponicharionid bradoriid species described from the early Cambrian of East Antarctica, characterized by a subtriangular carapace with prominent anterior and posterior lobes developed as two distinctive, sharp ridges (bi = two, carina = ridges). Unfortunately, the name Bicarinella is preoccupied by two different gastropod genera: Bicarinella Waterhouse 1966, a Permian gastropod from New Zealand and Australia, and Bicarinella Akopyan 1976, a gastropod from Late Cretaceous strata of Armenia, Serbia, Romania, Tajikistan, and Egypt (Mennessier, 1994; Banjac, 1998; Pana, 1998). Mennessier (1994) transferred Bicarinella Akopyan, 1976 from its original status as an independent taxon to a subgenus of Pseudomesalia Douvillé 1916, but subsequent workers have continued to consider Bicarinella a valid genus (Pena, 1998; Banjac, 1998). Due to the preoccupation, the bradoriid genus is herein renamed in accordance with the requirement of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999, article 60). It is also noted here that the one of the two distinct gastropod genera should be renamed. The name Bicarinellata (bi = two, carina = ridges) is proposed as a replacement name for Bicarinella Rode et al., 2003. This name retains the original prefixes to preserve taxonomic stability as much as possible. The type species of Bicarinellata is B. evansi by original designation (Rode et al., 2003).

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