Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T03:56:27.363Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Identification and Significance of a Late Pleistocene Tephra in Canterbury District, South Island, New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

B. P. Kohn
B. P. Kohn*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Mineralogy, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A rhyolitic ash 4 to 8 cm thick is well preserved within a thick loess unit in a coastal section 2 km long near Teviotdale, Canterbury district, South Island, New Zealand. The ash (informally named Tiromoana ash) contains fresh glass shards which give a fission-track age of 20,300 ± 7100 yr B.P. The only possible source for such a tephra with this age range is from Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ), North Island, some 550 km north of Teviotdale. Within the time span ca. 15,000 to 42,000 yr B.P. five widespread and voluminous rhyolitic tephras (viz. Rerewhakaaitu Ash, Rotoehu Ash, Kawakawa Tephra, Omataroa Tephra, and Mangaone Tephra) were erupted from TVZ. On the basis of the fission-track age, ferromagnesian mineralogy, and electron-microprobe analyses of glass shards and titanomagnetites from Tiromoana ash and the five possible correlatives listed above, Tiromoana ash is correlated with Kawakawa Tephra (dated by 14C at ca. 20,000 yr B.P.). This is the only known occurrence to date of Kawakawa Tephra in the South Island. Its preservation is attributed to special site conditions (low precipitation and minimal sheet erosion) leeward of a prominent terrace. The identification of the ash at Teviotdale as Kawakawa Tephra supports recently revised age assignments for the upper loess sheet in Canterbury. Moreover, it implies that loess enclosing Kawakawa Tephra in nonglaciated districts of southern North Island and Taupo Volcanic Zone is a correlative.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 78 - 92
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, J.M., 1971. Extraction and radiocarbon dating of dispersed organic material from loess in the South Island of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Science. 14, 490-493.Google Scholar
Birrell, K.S., Packard, R.Q., 1953. Some physical properties of New Zealand “Loess”. New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology B. 35, 30-35.Google Scholar
Brodie, J.W., 1957. Late Pleistocene beds, Wellington Peninsula. New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology B. 38, 623-643.Google Scholar
Bruce, J.G., 1973. Loessial deposits in southern South Island, with a definition of Stewarts Claim Formation. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 16, 533-548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmichael, I.S.E., 1967. The iron-titanium oxides of salic volcanic rocks and their associated ferromagnesian silicates. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. 14, 36-64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, B.S., 1972. Determination of trace concentration of boron and uranium in glass by the nuclear track technique. Analytical Chemistry. 44, 600-602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, M.J., 1970. The Stratigraphy and Chronology of the Hawera Series Marginal Succession of the North Canterbury Coast. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Canterbury Library. Google Scholar
Cowie, J.D., 1964a. Aokautere ash in the Manawatu district. New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 7, 67-77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowie, J.D., 1964b. Loess in the Manawatu district, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 7, 389-396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowie, J.D., Milne, J.D.G., 1973. Maps and sections showing the distribution and stratigraphy of North Island Loess and associated cover deposits, New Zealand. 1:1,000,000. New Zealand Soil Survey Report. 6.Google Scholar
Ewart, A., 1967. The petrography of the central North Island rhyolitic lavas. Part 1 — Correlations between the phenocryst assemblages. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 10, 182-197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewart, A.d, 1969. Petrochemistry and feldspar crystallization in the silicic volcanic rocks, central North Island, New Zealand. Lithos. 2, 371-388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewart, A., Green, D.C., Carmichael, I.S.E., Brown, F.H., 1971. Voluminous low temperature rhyolitic magmas in New Zealand. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. 33, 128-144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fergusson, G.J., Rafter, T.A., 1955. New Zealand 14C age measurements-2. New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology B. 36, 371-374.Google Scholar
Fleischer, R.L., Price, P.B., 1964. Glass dating by fission fragment tracks. Journal of Geophysical Research. 69, 331-339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleming, C.A., 1972. The contribution of 14C dates to the Quaternary geology of the “Golden Coast,” western Wellington. Tuatara. 19, 61-69.Google Scholar
Fleming, C.A., 1975. The Quaternary record of New Zealand and Australia. Suggate, R.P., Cresswell, M.M., Quaternary Studies. The Royal Society of New Zealand, Wellington, 1-20.Google Scholar
Goh, K.M., Molloy, B.P.J., Rafter, T.A., 1977. Radiocarbon dating of Quaternary loess deposits, Banks Peninsula, Canterbury, New Zealand. Quaternary Research. 7, 177-196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goh, K.M., Tonkin, P.J., Rafter, T.A., 1978. Implications of improved radiocarbon dates of Timaru Peats on Quaternary loess stratigraphy. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant-Taylor, T.L., Rafter, T.A., 1962. New Zealand radiocarbon age measurements-5. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 5, 331-359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant-Taylor, T.L., Rafter, T.A., 1971. New Zealand radiocarbon age measurements-6.. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 14, 364-402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregg, D.R., 1964. Sheet 18, Hurunui (1st edition), Geological map of New Zealand, 1:250,000. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Wellington, New Zealand. Google Scholar
Griffiths, E., 1973. Loess of Banks Peninsula. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 16, 657-675.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howorth, R., 1975. New formations of late Pleistocene tephras from the Okataina volcanic centre, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 18, 683-712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ives, D., 1973. Nature and distribution of loess in Canterbury, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 16, 587-610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleeman, J.D., Lovering, J.F., 1970. The evaluation of the spatial parameters K and α in equations for fission track uranium analysis. Radiation Effects. 5, 233-237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohn, B.P., 1970. Identification of New Zealand tephra-layers by emission spectrographic analysis of their titanomagnetites. Lithos. 3, 361-368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohn, B.P., 1973. Some Studies of New Zealand Quaternary Pyroclastic Rocks. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. Library of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Google Scholar
Kushiro, I., Nakamura, Y., 1970. Petrology of some lunar crystalline rocks. Proceedings of the Apollo 11 Lunar Science Conference. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta Supplement 1. 1, 607-626.Google Scholar
Lewis, K.B., Kohn, B.P., 1973. Ashes, turbidites and rates of sedimentation on the continental slope off Hawkes Bay. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 16, 439-454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCraw, J.D., 1975. Quaternary airfall deposits of New Zealand. Suggate, R.P., Cresswell, M.M., Quaternary Studies. The Royal Society of New Zealand, Wellington, 35-44.Google Scholar
Mildenhall, D.C., 1976. Exotic pollen rain on the Chatam Islands during the late Pleistocene. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 19, 327-333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milne, J.D.G., 1973. Maps and sections of river terraces in the Rangitikei basin, North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Soil Survey Report. 4.Google Scholar
Powers, W.E., 1970. Subdivisions of the Pleistocene ice age in New Zealand and possible correlation with the glacial sequence of the United States. Journal of Geology. 78, 221-229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pullar, W.A., Birrell, K.S., 1973. Age and distribution of late Quaternary pyroclastic and associated cover deposits of the Rotorua and Taupo area, North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Soil Survey Report. 1.Google Scholar
Pullar, W.A., Heine, J.C., 1971. Ages inferred from 14C dates of some tephra and other deposits from Rotorua, Taupo, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay districts. Proceedings Radiocarbon Users Conference. Lower Hutt 117-138.Google Scholar
Raeside, J.D., 1964. Loess deposits of the South Island and the soils formed on them. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 7, 811-838.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhea, K.P., 1968. Aokautere ash, loess, and river terraces in the Dannevirke district, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 11, 685-692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Runge, E.C.A., Walker, T.W., Howarth, D.T., 1974. A study of late Pleistocene loess deposits, South Canterbury, New Zealand: Part I, Forms and amounts of phosphorus compared with other techniques for identifying paleosols. Quaternary Research. 4, 76-84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seward, D., 1974. Age of New Zealand Pleistocene substages by fission-track dating of glass shards from tephra horizons. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 24, 242-248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suggate, R.P., 1965. Late Pleistocene geology of the northern part of the South Island, New Zealand. Bulletin New Zealand Geological Survey (New Series). 77.Google Scholar
Suggate, R.P., Moar, N.T., 1970. Revision of the chronology of the late Otira Glacial. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 13, 742-746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonkin, P.L., Runge, E.C.A., Ives, D., 1974. A study of late Pleistocene loess deposits, South Canterbury, New Zealand: Part II, Palesols and their stratigraphic implications. Quaternary Research. 4, 217-231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vucetich, C.G., Howorth, R., 1976a. Proposed definition of the Kawakawa Tephra, the c. 20,000-years-B.P. marker horizon in the New Zealand region. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 19, 43-50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vucetich, C.G., Howorth, R., 1976b. Late Pleistocene tephrostratigraphy in the Taupo District, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 19, 51-69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vucetich, C.G., Pullar, W.A., 1964. Stratigraphy and chronology of the late Quaternary volcanic ash in Taupo, Rotorua and Gisborne districts: Part 2. New Zealand Geological Survey Bulletin. 73, 88.Google Scholar
Vucetich, C.G., Pullar, W.A., 1969. Stratigraphy and chronology of late Pleistocene volcanic ash beds in central North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 12, 784-837.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, J.B., Lovering, J.F., 1965. Electroprobe microanalysis of the iron-titanium oxides in some New Zealand ironsands. Mineralogical Magazine. 35, 604-621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar