Don’t get me wrong – Christian virtues (the teachings of JC) are admirable. I was brought-up going to ‘Sunday School’ and I guess it didn’t do me any harm. I’m not exactly sure what I did get out of it – we were told ‘Bible stories’ and there was a fair amount of colouring-in pictures… Continue reading Sunday School stole my heritage – Bears, Baa-lambs, and Salmon
New Zealand, Middle-earth and Reality
There was a time when I threatened myself to start teaching the ecology of Middle-earth. I helped take a couple of trips taking American university students around New Zealand. It was an amazing itinerary, but it came with a strong feeling that my students were far more interested in where scenes from ‘Lord of the… Continue reading New Zealand, Middle-earth and Reality
The Marshall Paraconformity – a 30 year geological debate in New Zealand
Cut back to the late 1970s – I was a schoolboy and had found my way into the Burnside Marl Pit, Dunedin (southern New Zealand) and up to the unit of greensand that is exposed on the hill side at the far end. Greensand is an accumulation of grains of the mineral glauconite. This green… Continue reading The Marshall Paraconformity – a 30 year geological debate in New Zealand
Flooded Forests: sea-level rise in the Haast, West Coast, New Zealand
I own a little patch of bush in the Haast, on the wet, West Coast of New Zealand. It was selectively logged a few decades ago, which meant that the large podocarp trees were removed. It then became the edge of what was left of the forest, and farmland. I bought it with the intention… Continue reading Flooded Forests: sea-level rise in the Haast, West Coast, New Zealand
Cladophlebis – New Zealand’s Mesozoic Weed
The fern Cladophlebis is probably the single-most common plant fossil in the New Zealand Jurassic. It’s present in virtually every plant fossil site of that age (see the Featured Image of this post), so much so that Mildenhall (1974) referred to it as ‘Mesozoic weed’. When New Zealanders talk about ‘fern rock’, it’s a good… Continue reading Cladophlebis – New Zealand’s Mesozoic Weed
Is New Zealand in the Anthropocene?
Has New Zealand recently entered an entirely new period of time? You may have caught up with the proposal that the world is now in a new era of time – the Anthropocene. Geologists have previously told us that we lived in the period called the Holocene. This is generally agreed to have begun 11,700… Continue reading Is New Zealand in the Anthropocene?
Is New Zealand in the Anthropocene?
Has New Zealand recently entered an entirely new period of time? You may have caught up with the proposal that the world is now in a new era of time – the Anthropocene. Geologists have previously told us that we lived in the period called the Holocene. This is generally agreed to have begun 11,700… Continue reading Is New Zealand in the Anthropocene?
Matai- vanquished giant of New Zealand’s dry forests?
I’ve long found New Zealand’s black pine, the matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia) to be a special tree. From a dishevelled juvenile, It can grow into one of our tallest and oldest plants. Its foliage, unlike the delicate feathers of its smaller relative the miro, has a more scruffy appearance. It is by no means rare, but… Continue reading Matai- vanquished giant of New Zealand’s dry forests?
Black Sea rainforest? Gorgeous, green, Georgistan
Rainforest in Georgia? (as in Georgistan, Black Sea, by the way, not as in ‘Good-Old-Boys’). I saw it marked on a Wikipedia map and it seemed like a damned good excuse to go and have a look-see…. Some background: The word ‘gorgeous’ is reputed to stem from Georgian women. Evidence I gathered supports this, from the passport… Continue reading Black Sea rainforest? Gorgeous, green, Georgistan
Canary Islands – ‘Last’ Rainforest in Europe (?)
The fossils are clear – just a few million years ago Europe was covered in broad-leaved, evergreen forest. There were palm trees and numerous other trees that are now only found in the tropics. Under almost any definition, this would be called ‘rainforest’. The climate then cooled and dried and the evergreen forests were mostly… Continue reading Canary Islands – ‘Last’ Rainforest in Europe (?)