In Australia there are trees that look like inside-out chimneys. Strong but sensitive – a fungal attack can leave them as a pile of mush within days, and, often as not, they won’t survive being transplanted from the wild. But, you can burn them to a crisp – and they will re-sprout, again, and again,… Continue reading Australian Grasstrees – ancient registrars of fire
Tag: forests
Five Degrees of Global Warming – The Leaf Fossils of Kakahu, New Zealand
Sometime in the 1980s my Prof, ‘JDC’ (Doug Campbell of the Otago University), showed me a box of spectacular leaf fossils that had been collected from Kakahu by Graeme Mason while “out rabbiting”. Kakahu is a farming district in the hills, a few kilometres out of Geraldine, in New Zealand. Leaf fossils had been known… Continue reading Five Degrees of Global Warming – The Leaf Fossils of Kakahu, New Zealand
Would you like a beer? – Guests of the Kalimantan Police
Roni is a Batak. This is a christian tribe that lives in the Lake Toba area of the otherwise Muslim Sumatra. The Bataks are famous for their relaxed, easy-going, easy to get along with anyone nature. Roni is just the kind of guy a geologist wants as a partner, minder, and Mr Fix-it. There was a… Continue reading Would you like a beer? – Guests of the Kalimantan Police
Chromite and Pine Forests – the closest I’ll ever get to the Old Syria
On March 21, 2011 I was sent to do a job in the far south-east of Turkey. Me and Erol, my indispensable helper, met the local contact, dined, and were then driven far into the hills. I only had the fuzziest of notions where I was going – as no-one spoke a word of English… Continue reading Chromite and Pine Forests – the closest I’ll ever get to the Old Syria
The Fossil Palm Swamps of Central Otago, New Zealand
One of the endearing memories I have during my PhD was working on the banks above the Kawarau River near Cromwell (Central Otago, New Zealand), in the middle of the winter. I was belting my way with a pick into a sequence of mud that was frozen solid. This was probably a good thing, as… Continue reading The Fossil Palm Swamps of Central Otago, New Zealand
The Fossil Palm Swamps of Central Otago, New Zealand
One of the endearing memories I have during my PhD was working on the banks above the Kawarau River near Cromwell (Central Otago, New Zealand), in the middle of the winter. I was belting my way with a pick into a sequence of mud that was frozen solid. This was probably a good thing, as… Continue reading The Fossil Palm Swamps of Central Otago, New Zealand
New Zealand – Beeches Invade Paradise!
In the old days in New Zealand, you needed to add the right prefix to telephone numbers to ring the adjacent villages. Our number was a 3-digit figure in the Clyde exchange. To ring Alexandra, 6 km down the road, I think we had to prefix their 4-digit numbers with a 1. To get us, they… Continue reading New Zealand – Beeches Invade Paradise!
Tropical Rainforest in …. South Westland?
At Ship Creek, just a few kilometers north of Haast, in South Westland, New Zealand, there is a wonderful boardwalk though an original swamp forest (It’s less than 3 km south of Coal Creek – where I found my first plant fossils, aged nine). The key tree is kahikatea (Dacrycarpus) and the walk features a… Continue reading Tropical Rainforest in …. South Westland?
The Kai Point Coal Mine – Late Cretaceous vegetation treasure-trove
The lowlands south of Dunedin (New Zealand), used to be almost impassable wetlands. The local Maoris were incredulous when the first Western explorers of the mid 19th century insisted on making their way tediously directly through it. There were other routes south. The wetlands were a mixture of flax, raupo, sedges, and some small patches… Continue reading The Kai Point Coal Mine – Late Cretaceous vegetation treasure-trove
Discovering the ‘Bridge of Stone’ – the ancient route over the Kawarau River, New Zealand
Part way along the Kawarau River between Cromwell and Queenstown (Central Otago, New Zealand) is a feature known to Maori as ‘Whatatorere’ (Kaumatua Huata Holmes of Kati Huirapa Runaka ki Puketeraki pers. comm. to Lloyd Carpenter, lecturer in Maori Studies at Lincoln University) and to Pakeha (non-indigenous New Zealanders) as the “Natural Bridge” or “Chalmers’ Leap”. Before… Continue reading Discovering the ‘Bridge of Stone’ – the ancient route over the Kawarau River, New Zealand