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?
Tag: New Zealand Jurassic
Bioturbation near the Jurassic Fossil Forests at Curio Bay
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
The Jurassic fossil soils of Curio Bay, and Fortrose-Otara, New Zealand
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
How Much Carbon Dioxide was in the Atmosphere of New Zealand’s Jurassic Curio Bay Fossil Forest?
How do you figure out how much carbon dioxide was in the atmosphere millions of years ago? In the Jurassic, the fossil forest at Curio Bay in New Zealand was probably growing in higher latitudes than any forest in the Southern Hemisphere today. The reasons for this will be a combination of altered geography (a… Continue reading How Much Carbon Dioxide was in the Atmosphere of New Zealand’s Jurassic Curio Bay Fossil Forest?
What latitude did the Jurassic Fossil Forest of Curio Bay grow at?
The Jurassic fossil forest of Curio Bay today lies almost at the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island. In the Jurassic, you could have walked from Curio Bay to what is now Australia and Antarctica (Dinosaurs may have done just that). We know from Tasman Sea and Southern Ocean sea-floor data that the western… Continue reading What latitude did the Jurassic Fossil Forest of Curio Bay grow at?
Deciduous Conifers in New Zealand’s Jurassic Fossil Forest at Curio Bay
As you pull up in the car park above the fossil forest at Curio Bay (Pole 1999, 2001, 2004, 2009), there is a wonderful patch of living, native forest, just behind. Its conifers, like all New Zealand conifers today, are evergreen. But what of Curio Bay’s forest, back in the Jurassic? The most common type… Continue reading Deciduous Conifers in New Zealand’s Jurassic Fossil Forest at Curio Bay
How Tall were the trees in New Zealand’s Jurassic Fossil Forest at Curio Bay?
At Curio Bay near the southernmost point of New Zealand’’s South Island, you can walk around the remains of a Jurassic fossil forest. Tree stumps are still in their growth position, and fossilised logs criss-cross through the sandstone overlying them. So can we add these pieces of information together – and see what the Curio… Continue reading How Tall were the trees in New Zealand’s Jurassic Fossil Forest at Curio Bay?
The Biggest Tree Stump in the Curio Bay Jurassic Forest
Back in the late 1980s I had the pleasure of meeting the English scientist David Bellamy. Bellamy was famous at the time as ‘The Botanic Man’, and he was in New Zealand to film for ‘Moa’s Ark’, a TV series and book about the development of New Zealand’s flora and fauna (including the extinct moa birds)… Continue reading The Biggest Tree Stump in the Curio Bay Jurassic Forest
Horsetail Marshes of the New Zealand Jurassic
In the Jurassic, New Zealand had ‘horsetails’ (Latin: Equisetum) – an odd-looking plant , a bit like a long brush with whorls of narrow leaves and are related to ferns. Apart from their shape some of the extinct forms had a strange ‘diaphram’ attached to their stems that contained the spores (see the featured image. The… Continue reading Horsetail Marshes of the New Zealand Jurassic
Podozamites – a multi-veined conifer in New Zealand’s Jurassic
Most conifer leaves have just one vein, whether they be the needles of pines, or the much broader leaves of some tropical conifers. This limits their size and shape (they mostly stay small and can’t do fancy stuff like many flowering plant leaves). Just two kinds of conifer have several veins in their leaves –… Continue reading Podozamites – a multi-veined conifer in New Zealand’s Jurassic