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?
Tag: New Zealand paleobotany
The Jurassic Fossil Forests at Curio Bay, New Zealand, and their connection to two remarkable English scientists
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
Were there dinosaurs in New Zealand’s Jurassic Fossil Forest at Curio Bay?
In the Jurassic you could have walked from what is now the fossil forest at Curio Bay in southernmost New Zealand (see featured image), to Australia, or Antarctica. Both continents were then part of Gondwana, and Curio Bay was somewhere near Gondwana’s coast. Did dinosaurs travel as freely, and would they have roamed the forest?… Continue reading Were there dinosaurs in New Zealand’s Jurassic Fossil Forest at Curio Bay?
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?
New Zealand’s first fossil horsetails in millions of years
With the precious fossils laid out carefully on a sun-hat held in my hands, I took a confident stride from one boulder to the next. And slipped. My left knee cap took the full impact of my body on another boulder, about a meter down. My head, fortunately, hit the Buller River, as did the… Continue reading New Zealand’s first fossil horsetails in millions of years
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?
New Zealand’s Hawks Crag Breccia – prelude to the drift from Gondwana
The New Zealand road network has some seriously quirky idiosyncrasies – little things we locals take for granted, but can cause some alarm to the ever-increasing number of tourists. There are, for example, hundreds of ‘one lane’ bridges. And about these, I was once asked, in total exasperation by an American “Why don’t you just… Continue reading New Zealand’s Hawks Crag Breccia – prelude to the drift from Gondwana
Phyllocladus fossils from the Miocene of New Zealand, and Cretaceous Protophyllocladus
A rare plant fossil in the Miocene Manuherikia Group of New Zealand, is Phyllocladus (the Celery Pine). This is a strange conifer which, instead of leaves, the adult plant has multi-veined flattened branches that are called phylloclades. With these phylloclades, the average person would scarcely believe Phyllocladus is a kind of conifer (very broadly, a pine). But it… Continue reading Phyllocladus fossils from the Miocene of New Zealand, and Cretaceous Protophyllocladus
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
The Amazing Miocene Fossil Leaf Pack of Mata Creek, New Zealand
I was crouched in a long boat somewhere up a rainforest-swathed river in Kalimatan, Borneo, when I saw it – a ‘living’ example of a fossil leaf pack I had once seen in New Zealand. Several years before, I had been exploring down a little stream near St Bathans, New Zealand. I was looking for… Continue reading The Amazing Miocene Fossil Leaf Pack of Mata Creek, New Zealand