Zircon fission track age for middle Pleistocene Rangitawa Tephra, New Zealand: stratigraphic and paleoclimatic significance

Kohn, Barry P.; Pillans, Brad; McGlone, Matthew S.

doi:10.1016/0031-0182(92)90166-3

Cited by 89 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…The widespread Aokautere Ash Member of the Kawakawa Tephra Formation (22 590 + 230 14 C yr: Wilson et al 1988;Froggatt & Lowe 1990; or 24.5 ± 1 ka calendar yr: Bard et al 1993) has been recognised in the upper loess unit throughout most of South Island (e.g., Kohn 1979;Campbell 1986;Eden & Froggatt 1988;Eden et al 1992), but in the southernmost region only by microscopic grain counting (Eden et al 1992). The next oldest widespread tephra is the Rangitawa Tephra, dated at c. 340 ka (Kohn et al 1992;Allowayetal. 1993;Pillans etal.…”

Section: Chronological Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Luminescence chronology of loess‐paleosol sequences from Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand

Berger

Pillans

Bruce

et al. 2001

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics

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The extensive Quaternary loess-paleosol deposits of South Island, New Zealand, represent one of the major proxy records of paleoclimatic changes in the Southern Hemisphere. We attempted to produce the first numeric chronology of these subaerial sequences in the Canterbury region by using thermoluminescence and infrared-stimulated luminescence dating methods. We examined five exposures: a 6 m thick section at Cust, north of Christchurch; two thicker (c. 14 m) sequences on Banks Peninsula (Barrys Bay and Onawe sites); farther south, a c. 12 m sequence in Timaru; and a c. 7 m sequence on the coast at the Normanby site near Timaru. Our results are largely based on single experiments per sample, and therefore provide imprecise ages for several of the older samples. The most satisfactory results are those from the youngest site (Cust), for which three samples were dated. Here, phases of maximum loess deposition are dated at 73 ± 13 ka (basal loess-paleosol unit L3), 41 ± 5 ka (basal L2), and 27 ± 3 ka (basal LI). At Barrys Bay an age of 70 ± 15 ka was obtained in the basal LI, and at Timaru two separate samples in the base of LI also yielded ages of c. 70 ka, thus correlating the entire Cust loess sequence with the LI loess unit at these two other study sites. Only at Barrys Bay were ages (c. 130-250 ka) in stratigraphic order obtained for older samples (units L2 and deeper). At the other sites, some samples in the sub-Ll units gave age reversals, and some (including the oldest sample at Barrys Bay) yielded poor precision (e.g., 20%). Units L2 at Timaru and Barrys Bay may correlate to all or part of MIS 6; however, the poor precision and some age reversals in other units at these sites and at Normanby and Onawe preclude any unambiguous correlations between sites or to the MIS time-scale. Nevertheless, in the absence of any prior numeric ages, these first results serve as a basis for more precise future dating of these units. Although these reconnaissance dating results illustrate some of the problems for luminescence dating of such sequences in South Island, they do provide a beginning for a more accurate correlation of terrestrial and terrestrial-marine sedimentary sequences in this part of the Southern Hemisphere.

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Section: Chronological Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Luminescence chronology of loess‐paleosol sequences from Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand

Berger

Pillans

Bruce

et al. 2001

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics

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“…The analyses are a close match with those published from the type location (Table 1) and reference sites of RTT on North Island and in marine cores (e.g. Froggatt et al ., 1986; Kohn et al ., 1992; Shane et al ., 1995; Lowe et al ., 2001; Mildenhall and Alloway, 2008). Except for K 2 O content in sample KRS, standard errors on each oxide are low, suggesting that the samples are homogeneous in composition.…”

Section: Results: Tephra Characterisation and Datingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A second tephra is here reported on Chatham Island for the first time, namely the rhyolitic Rangitawa Tephra (previously known as Mt Curl tephra, and other names; see Froggatt et al ., 1986; Alloway et al ., 1993; Mildenhall and Alloway, 2008), which was deposited late in MIS 10 with an age of around 340–350 ka (Froggatt et al ., 1986; Black et al ., 1988; Kohn et al ., 1992; Pillans et al ., 1996; Lowe et al ., 2001; Farley et al ., 2002). Erupted from Whakamaru Caldera in central TVZ (Kohn et al ., 1992; Brown et al ., 1998), it provides a very widely distributed marker bed for mid‐Pleistocene marine and terrestrial deposits in the New Zealand region and beyond, and may be recognisable in sediments as far as ∼10 000 km from source (Froggatt et al ., 1986; Nelson, 1988; Shane and Froggatt, 1991; Pillans, 1994; Pillans et al ., 1996; Alloway et al ., 2007a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary tephra marker beds and their potential for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction on Chatham Island, east of New Zealand, southwest Pacific Ocean

Holt

Wallace

Neall

et al. 2010

J Quaternary Science

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Tephras provide one of the most reliable methods of time control and synchronisation within Quaternary sequences. We report on the identification of two widespread rhyolitic tephras -the Kawakawa and Rangitawa tephras -preserved in extensive peat deposits on Chatham Island $900 km east of New Zealand. The tephras, both products of supereruptions from the Taupo Volcanic Zone, occur as pale, fine-ash dominated layers typically 10-150 mm thick. Mineralogically they are dominated by rhyolitic glass, together with subordinate amounts of quartz, feldspar, hypersthene, hornblende, Fe-Ti oxides and zircon. Phlogopite/biotite was identified additionally in Rangitawa Tephra. Ages for each tephra were obtained via mineralogical and major element glass compositionbased correlation with well-dated equivalent deposits on mainland New Zealand, and we also obtained a new zircon fission-track age for Rangitawa Tephra (350 AE 50 ka) on Chatham Island. Both tephras were erupted at critical times for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in the New Zealand region: the Kawakawa at ca. 27 cal. ka, near the beginning of the 'extended' LGM early in marine isotope stage (MIS) 2; and the Rangitawa at ca. 350 ka near the end of MIS 10. The time constraints provided by the tephras demonstrate that Chatham Island peats contain long-distance pollen derived from mainland New Zealand, which provides a reliable proxy for identifying glacial-interglacial climate conditions, in this case during the MIS 11-10 and MIS 2-1 cycles. The two tephras thus provide important chronostratigraphic tie-points that facilitate correlation and synchronisation not only across the Quaternary deposits of the Chatham Islands group but also with climatically significant terrestrial and marine records in the wider New Zealand region.

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“…Since the 1970s, these newer correlation criteria have become increasingly important in New Zealand, as summarised recently by Pillans et al (1994) and Naish et al (1996. For example, paleomagnetic characterisation of the New Zealand Pliocene-Pleistocene has been attempted by Kennett & Watkins (1974), Seward et al (1986), Turner & Kamp (1990), and Pillans et al (1994); tephrochronologic studies include those of Ninkovitch (1968), Seward (1974Seward ( , 1976Seward ( , 1979, Milne (1973a-c), Boellstorff & Te Punga (1977), Watkins & Huang (1977), Nelson et al (1985a), Bussell & Mildenhall (1990), Kamp (1990), Shane (1990Shane ( , 1994, Kohn et al (1992), Alloway et al (1993), Pillans et al (1993), and L. Carter et al (1995); and correlation of Pliocene-Pleistocene shallow marine cyclothems with the oxygen isotope scale has been demonstrated by Beu & Edwards (1984), Abbott & Carter (1994), , and Saul et al (in press). …”

Section: Three New Criteria For Correlationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Have local stages outlived their usefulness for the New Zealand Pliocene‐Pleistocene?

Carter¹,

Naish²

1998

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics

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Stratigraphic subdivision of the New ZealandPliocene-Pleistocene has its historical basis in biostratigraphy, especially in the shallow marine strata in the Wanganui and East Coast basins, North Island. Internationally, an astronomically calibrated, high resolution timescale is now well established for the PliocenePleistocene, based on predominantly precession-controlled sedimentary cycles in the Mediterranean region, and the mainly obliquity-controlled, high resolution, deep-sea, benthonic oxygen isotope record. Naish and others have recently provided a similar Milankovitch-frequency cyclostratigraphy for the Pliocene-Pleistocene of New Zealand (last 3.6 m.y.), based on the Wanganui Basin record. This cyclostratigraphic record allows numeric ages to be estimated for at least 114 stratigraphic horizons in Wanganui Basin, which are not otherwise dated. Based on this record, we propose new definitions for the boundaries between New Zealand Pliocene-Pleistocene stages. The new boundaries respect traditional biostratigraphic indicators, but are based upon objective markers, mainly magnetic polarity reversals. The two exceptions are the base-Marahauan (equated with the international Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary, at 1.81 Ma) and the base-Haweran (equated with the base of the Rangitawa Tephra, at 0.34 Ma). The revised positions and ages for the age/stage and subage/substage boundaries, from older to younger, are: base-Opoitian Stage, base-Thvera subchron, 5.25 Ma; base-Waitotaran Stage (= baseWaipipian Substage), Gauss/Gilbert boundary, 3.60 Ma; base-Mangapanian Substage, top-Kaena Subchron, 3.03 Ma; base-Nukumaruan Stage (= base-Hautawan Substage), Matuyama/Gauss boundary, 2.58 Ma; base-Marahauan Substage, Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary, 1.81 Ma; baseCastlecliffian Stage (= base-Okehuan Substage), baseJaramillo Subchron, 1.07 Ma; base-Putikian Substage, Brunhes/Matuyama boundary, 0.78 Ma; base-Haweran Stage, base-Rangitawa Tephra, 0.34 Ma.

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Zircon fission track age for middle Pleistocene Rangitawa Tephra, New Zealand: stratigraphic and paleoclimatic significance

Cited by 89 publications

References 55 publications

Luminescence chronology of loess‐paleosol sequences from Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand

Luminescence chronology of loess‐paleosol sequences from Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand

Quaternary tephra marker beds and their potential for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction on Chatham Island, east of New Zealand, southwest Pacific Ocean

Have local stages outlived their usefulness for the New Zealand Pliocene‐Pleistocene?

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