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50thKaikoura05 -1- Kaikoura 2005 CHARACTERISATION OF NEW ...

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distal alluvial plains where large population centres<br />

and infrastructure are typically concentrated.<br />

ORAL<br />

PAST HIGHSTANDS <strong>OF</strong> LAKE ROTORUA:<br />

IMPLICATIONS FOR TECTONISM AND<br />

PALAEOGEOGRAPHY IN THE TAUPO<br />

VOLCANIC ZONE<br />

V. Manville 1 ,R.Marx 2 ,J.D.L.White 2<br />

1 Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences, Private<br />

Bag 2000, Taupo, New Zealand<br />

2 Geology Department, University of Otago,<br />

PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.<br />

(v.manville*gns.cri.nz)<br />

Lake Rotorua currently partially occupies a nearcircular<br />

20 km diameter volcano-tectonic<br />

depression formed at 220 ka by eruption of the<br />

voluminous Mamaku Ignimbrite. Two distinct<br />

lacustrine littoral terraces that fringe much of the<br />

lake basin, defined on the basis of contrasting<br />

geomorphology and field relationships and<br />

separated by tephrostratigraphically dateable<br />

unconformities, are here correlated with former<br />

highstands of the lake. The first and highest<br />

elevation terrace (up to 415 m), corresponds to<br />

accumulation of a lake in the newly created basin in<br />

the immediate aftermath of the Mamaku Ignimbrite<br />

eruption. Considerable uncertainty surrounds the<br />

direction of overflow of this level, but the lake may<br />

have extended southwards through the Hemo<br />

Gorge, a v-shaped notch in the topographic rim of<br />

the caldera, through the Ngakuru Graben and into<br />

the Waikato River drainage. A highstand at this<br />

level would be contiguous with Lake Huka in the<br />

Taupo-Reporoa area and require a blockage in the<br />

Ongaroto Gorge, possibly related to volcanism at<br />

the Ohakuri or Maroa volcanic centres. At some<br />

later time a northeasterly outlet became established<br />

at a lower level through the tectonically subsiding<br />

Tikitere Graben into the Haroharo caldera from<br />

where it flowed into the Bay of Plenty via the<br />

Kawerau Canyon. The second and most extensive<br />

littoral terrace (370-380 m), the post-55 ka Rotoiti<br />

alloformation, is the product of a durable highstand<br />

produced by blockage of this drainage path by<br />

eruption of a voluminous unwelded ignimbrite from<br />

the adjacent Okataina Volcanic Centre. Lake level<br />

was maintained by stable overspill across a welded<br />

ignimbrite sill west of the Tikitere Graben into the<br />

north-flowing Kaituna River until accumulation of<br />

Mangaone Subgroup tephras in the graben could no<br />

longer keep pace with active subsidence. Lake level<br />

initially dropped rapidly by c. 20 m as the<br />

unconsolidated Mangaone tephras were flushed<br />

away, before impingement of the falling lake level<br />

on the underlying more consolidated Rotoiti<br />

pyroclastics produced a short-lived stillstand at c.<br />

350 m marked by a third alloformation comprising<br />

cryptic fluvial strath terraces and shoreline deposits<br />

in the Rotorua basin. Resumption of down-cutting<br />

triggered an apparently catastrophic break-out<br />

through the Haroharo route prior to the 26.5 ka<br />

Oruanui eruption and a fall in lake level to below<br />

260 m. Episodic growth of resurgent dome<br />

complexes between 21 and 9 ka progressively<br />

blocked this drainage path, forcing Lake Rotorua to<br />

rise to a level where it could overtop a drainage<br />

divide on the northern rim of Lake Rotoiti to reoccupy<br />

the former Kaituna River course,<br />

establishing the current outlet channel.<br />

POSTER<br />

PALEOENVIRONMENTAL<br />

RECONSTRUCTION <strong>OF</strong> A WELL-<br />

PRESERVED STAGE 7 FOREST SEQUENCE<br />

CATASTROPHICALLY BURIED BY<br />

BASALTIC ERUPTIVE DEPOSITS,<br />

NORTHERN <strong>NEW</strong> ZEALAND<br />

M. J. Marra 1 ,B.V.Alloway 2<br />

&R.M.Newnham 3<br />

1 Department of Geological Sciences, University of<br />

Canterbury, NZ<br />

2 GNS-Science, Gracefield Research Centre, PO<br />

Box 30368, Lower Hutt, NZ<br />

3 School of Geography, University of Plymouth,<br />

Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK<br />

(Maureen.marra*canterbury.ac.nz)<br />

The well-preserved remnants of a forest sequence,<br />

catastrophically inundated by proximal to medial<br />

phreatomagmatic deposits, are identified on the<br />

shores of the Manukau Harbour. In this study the<br />

stratigraphy and age of this forest succession was<br />

examined in detail along with palaeoecological<br />

proxies (palynology and beetle assemblages) from<br />

carbonaceous muds associated with the forest<br />

sequence. Optically Stimulated Luminescence<br />

dating of the phreatomagmatic deposit together<br />

with palaeoecological evidence for interglacial<br />

climate suggests deposition in late Marine Isotope<br />

Stage (MIS) 7. This extends the known age of<br />

Auckland volcanism by up to 40 ka.<br />

Ninety-eight fossil beetle taxa were identified. All<br />

but two of the fossil taxa occur in the local modern<br />

fauna. Based on an extensive survey of the local<br />

modern fauna, the fossil beetle fauna represents<br />

48% of families, 20% of genera, and 13% of<br />

species in the local modern fauna. The fossil<br />

assemblage comprises taxa from forest, wetland<br />

and beach habitats.<br />

Both beetle and pollen assemblages indicate a<br />

kauri/podocarp forest growing adjacent to a<br />

wetland on or near a coastal plain. The pollen<br />

record shows Agathis australis- dominance<br />

between two phases of Dacrydium cupressinum<br />

50 th <strong>Kaikoura</strong>05 -49- <strong>Kaikoura</strong> <strong>2005</strong>

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