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A Vegetation History of the Far North of New Zealand during the Late Otira (Last) Glaciation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Rewi Newnham ,
John Ogden  and
Dallas Mildenhall
Rewi Newnham
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
John Ogden
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Dallas Mildenhall
Affiliation:
DSIR Geology and Geophysics, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
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Abstract

During the latter part of the last (Otira) glaciation the forest cover of New Zealand was much reduced. It has frequently been postulated, however, that diverse mixed forest communities survived in the far north of North Island. Pollen diagrams and radiocarbon dates from two last glacial and postglacial (Aranuian) sits on the Aupouri Peninsula in the far north of New Zealand are compared with other published palynological and plant macrofossil evidence from the region. Mixed kauri/podocarp/angiosperm forest was present at times during the late Otiran (and Aranuian) and no evidence was found for substantial loss of forest. However, radiocarbon samples from one site, at least, seem to have been contaminated with young carbon; this introduces uncertainty into the chronology established at that site. Possibly nondeposition or erosion has obscured part or all of the late Otiran record at all the sites studied so that very much reduced forest cover at that time cannot be ruled out.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , May 1993 , pp. 361 - 372
Copyright
University of Washington

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