Three Kinds of Volcanic Ash around the Jurassic Fossil Forests of Curio Bay

A Cladophlebis fern frond in a Jurassic analcime tuff, Slope Point, New Zealand. Photo: the author (Mike Pole).

The Jurassic fossil forests at Curio Bay appear to have been overwhelmed by water-lain material, not by air-fall volcanic ash. But the broader location was somewhere on a floodplain adjacent a highland with active volcanoes – so surely the forests were blanketed with ash from time to time? In the cliff below the lookout is… Continue reading Three Kinds of Volcanic Ash around the Jurassic Fossil Forests of Curio Bay

Pippi Longstockings, and a Destroyed School in Kharkiv, Ukraine

Books in the rubble of Kharkiv Gymnasium No 47. Photo: the author (Mike Pole)

In a pile of rubble in the destroyed Gymnasium No. 47 in Kharkiv (Харьковская гимназия № 47), Ukraine, I picked up a book. The school was, fortunately, not open when it was destroyed by Russia in the early hours of July 04, 2022  (See the archello website and Kanal 24 and Infociti website). It was… Continue reading Pippi Longstockings, and a Destroyed School in Kharkiv, Ukraine

Dinoturbation at Curio Bay Jurassic Forest?

Possible dinoturbation in the Jurassic of Curio Bay, New Zealand. Photo: the author (Mike Pole).

This year I headed down to the Jurassic fossil forests at Curio Bay, in one of the worst stretches of spring weather I’ve experienced. Lots of rain, and a high, rough sea – but I wanted to have a good look at the zones of bioturbation I’d come across years ago, and get some photos… Continue reading Dinoturbation at Curio Bay Jurassic Forest?

The Lost Totara Forests of Central Otago

A straight log, probably totara, in the headwaters of the Waikerikeri Valley. Photographed by the author (Mike Pole), in 1978. The original is in 'portrait' format, and it has been digitally added to on either side to fit the 'landscape' porportion of my blog images. The additions should be fairly obvious.

In my Fifth Form year at Dunstan High School, Alexandra, my Biology Teacher was Peter Child. He retired shortly afterwards, and as his Obituary puts it (Pierce, 1986), this was a ‘liberation’! Yes, I was one of the local yokels in a small country town, a posting that must have severely tried the sanity of… Continue reading The Lost Totara Forests of Central Otago

Bioturbation near the Jurassic Fossil Forests at Curio Bay

Horizontal bioturbation (dark sandstone) in yelllowish silt. Jurassic of Curio Bay, New Zealand. Photo: the author (Mike Pole).

The ‘God’ of trace fossils, Adolf ‘Dolf’ Seilacher, once visited our Geology Department, when I was an undergrad. My Prof, Doug Campbell, arranged a field trip for him, and invited me to come. We went to the Oamaru area, and quite incidentally, we took Seilacher to see some of the well-known early Polynesian rock art… Continue reading Bioturbation near the Jurassic Fossil Forests at Curio Bay

Beauprea – the last truly Gondwanan plant in New Zealand?

Fossil 'Beauprea-like' pollen (Beaupreadites elegansiformis, from the mid Miocene of Mata Creek, Central Otago). Photo: the author (Mike Pole).

Thirty years ago (Pole, 1994), I suggested all of New Zealand’s current flora may have arrived over the sea, by long-distance dispersal. This was counter to a prevailing idea that at least some of our plant lineages have been on New Zealand since it became isolated from the rest of Gondwana, roughly 80–70 Ma, in… Continue reading Beauprea – the last truly Gondwanan plant in New Zealand?

The Jurassic Fossil Forests at Curio Bay, New Zealand, and their connection to two remarkable English scientists

A Podozamites gracilis, fossil from the Jurassic of Curio Bay. This conifer is one of the new species described by Edward Arber in his 1917 Memoir.

The Jurassic fossil forests at Curio Bay, southern New Zealand, have been known for at least a hundred and fifty years. They first appear to have come under scientific scrutiny in 1878, when the geologist James Hector collected there. He was followed by another geologist, Hector in 1878, and then James Park, who visited in… Continue reading The Jurassic Fossil Forests at Curio Bay, New Zealand, and their connection to two remarkable English scientists

Are the consequences of a fire in Tasmania 3,600 years ago, still present?

Wombat Pool, Cradle Mountain National Park, Tasmania. The trees on the near edge are Pencil Pines. Photo: the author (Mike Pole).

Sitting a little above the more famous lake of Cradle Mountain National Park , Tasmamia – Dove Lake, is Wombat Pool. Some tourists are confused by the name – assuming its a good place to see wombat. It’s perhaps not a good idea to tell them it was named by a pioneer of the park,… Continue reading Are the consequences of a fire in Tasmania 3,600 years ago, still present?

Ukraine: War and Wonders – Ukraine’s Womanly Face of War

T-34 tank from World War 2, outside the museum, central Kharkiv, Ukraine. It was on the outside of tanks such as this one, that some Red Army female medics, went to battle. Photo: the author (Mike Pole).

Svetlana Alexievich’s book ‘The Unwomanly Face of War’ is one of the most impactful I’ve ever read. The book is a series of interviews with surviving women who fought in the Soviet Red Army during World War Two. Most (not all), of these women were medics and snipers. There are first-person tales of incredible stuff… Continue reading Ukraine: War and Wonders – Ukraine’s Womanly Face of War

The Jurassic fossil soils of Curio Bay, and Fortrose-Otara, New Zealand

Reddish fossil soils, interpreted as 'Ferric Durisols' from the Jurassic, adjacent Curio Bay, New Zealand. Photo: the author (Mike Pole)

Soils “lie at the interface between earth, air, water, and life” (Needelman, 2013). They are constantly evolving in response to what is around them – such as the climate. For this reason, some scientists have made the study of fossil soils one of their specialties. One of these is Greg Retallack, who has written many… Continue reading The Jurassic fossil soils of Curio Bay, and Fortrose-Otara, New Zealand