New Zealand geologic time scale

While also using the international geologic time scale, many nations–especially those with isolated and therefore non-standard prehistories–use their own systems of dividing geologic time into epochs and faunal stages.

In New Zealand, these epochs and stages use local place names (mainly Māori in origin) back to the Permian. Prior to this time, names mostly align to those in the Australian geologic time scale, and are not divided into epochs. In practice, these earlier terms are rarely used, as most New Zealand geology is of a more recent origin. In all cases, New Zealand uses the same periods as those used internationally; the renaming only applies to subdivisions of these periods. Very few epochs and stages cross international period boundaries, and the exceptions are almost all within the Cenozoic Era.

Although the New Zealand geologic time scale has not been formally adopted, it has been widely used by earth scientists, geologists and palaeontologists in New Zealand since J. S. Crampton proposed it in 1995.

A standard abbreviation is used for these epochs and stages. These are usually in the form Xx, where the first letter is the initial letter of the epoch and the second (lower-case) letter is the initial letter of the stage. These are noted beside the stage names in the list below.

Currently, we are in the Haweran stage of the Wanganui epoch. The Haweran, which started some 340,000 years ago, is named after the North Island town of Hawera.

List of New Zealand geologic time epochs and stages

Times given indicate the start of the respective stages and epochs. Several of these stages are further divided into upper and lower or upper, middle, and lower, although this has not been noted below unless unique names have been given to these sub-stages. As with the international geologic scale, these epochs and stages are largely named for locales where rock dating from these time periods is in evidence, with stage names predominantly but not always named for locales close to their epoch's namesake site. Where known, these places are also linked in the list below.

Cenozoic Era

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)	International equivalent	Named after
Wanganui epoch	W		Pliocene, Pleistocene and Holocene	Wanganui
Haweran stage	Wq	0.34		Hawera
Castlecliffian stage	Wc	1.63		Castlecliff (suburb of Wanganui)
Nukumaruan stage	Wn	2.40		Nukumaru, near Waitotara
Mangapanian stage	Wm	3.00		Mangapani
Waipipian stage	Wp	3.60		Waipipi
Opoitian stage	Wo	5.33		Opoiti, near Wairoa
Taranaki epoch	T		Upper Miocene	Taranaki
Kapitean stage	Tk	7.2		Kapitea Creek, near Kumara
Tongaporutuan stage	Tt	11.01		Tongaporutu
Southland epoch	S		Middle Miocene	Southland
Waiauan stage	Sw	12.98		Waiau River
Lillburnian stage	Sl	15.1		Lill Burn, Southland
Clifdenian stage	Sc	15.9		Clifden, Southland
Pareora epoch	P		Lower Miocene	Pareora
Altonian stage	Pl	18.7		Alton Burn, Southland
Otaian stage	Po	21.7		Otaio
Landon epoch	L		Oligocene to Lower Miocene	Landon Creek, Pukeuri
Waitakian stage	Lw	25.2		Waitaki River
Duntroonian stage	Ld	27.3		Duntroon
Whaingaroan stage	Lwh	34.5		Whaingaroa (Raglan Harbour)
Arnold epoch	A		Middle to Upper Eocene	Arnold River
Runangan stage	Ar	36.0		Runanga
Kaiatan stage	Ak	38.4		Kaiata, near Greymouth
Bortonian stage	Ab	42.77		Bortons, near Duntroon
Dannevirke epoch	D		Lower Palaeocene to Middle Eocene	Dannevirke
Porangan stage	Dp	45.3		Poranga
Heretaungan stage	Dh	49.3		Heretaunga
Mangaorapan stage	Dm	53.3		Mangaorapa, southern Hawke's Bay
Waipawan stage	Dw	55.8		Waipawa
Teurian stage	Dt	65.5		Te Uri

Mesozoic Era

Cretaceous Period

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)	Named after
Mata epoch	M
Haumurian stage	Mh	84.0	Haumuri Bluff
Piripauan stage	Mp	86.5	Piripaua (Spyglass Point), Kaikoura District
Raukumara epoch	R		Raukumara Range
Teratan stage	Rt	89.1	Te Rata, Gisborne District
Mangaotanean stage	Rm	92.1	Mangaotane, Gisborne District
Arowhanan stage	Ra	95.2	Arowhana, Gisborne District
Clarence epoch	C		Clarence River
Ngaterian stage	Cn	100.2	Ngateretere, Bay of Plenty Region
Motuan stage	Cm	103.3	Motu River
Urutawan stage	Cu	108.4	Urutawa, a hill north of Matawai
Taitai epoch	U		Taitai, a hill near Ruatoria
Korangan stage	Uk	117.5	Koranga
Undifferentiated Taitai		145.5

Jurassic Period

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)	Named after
Oteke epoch	O		Otaka Stream, Waikato
Puaroan stage	Op	148.5	Puaroa Stream, Waikato
Kawhia epoch	K		Kawhia Harbour
Ohauan stage	Ko	153.5	Nathan Point/Ohaua, Kawhia Harbour
Heterian stage	Kh	157.5	Heteri Point, Kawhia Harbour
Temaikan stage	Kt	175.6	Te Maika, Kawhia Harbour
Herangi epoch	H		Herangi, Aotea Harbour
Ururoan stage	Hu	188.0	Ururoa Point, Kawhia Harbour
Aratauran stage	Ha	199.6	Arataura Point, near Kawhia Harbour

Triassic Period

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)	Named after
Balfour epoch	B		Balfour
Otapirian stage	Bo	204.6	Otapiri, near Winton
Warepan stage	Bw	212.0	Warepa, near Balclutha
Otamitan stage	Bm	217.0	Otamita Stream, Hokonui Hills
Oretian stage	Br	227.5	Oreti River
Gore epoch	G		Gore
Kaihikuan stage	Gk	238.5	Kaihiku Stream, The Catlins
Etalian stage	Ge	244.5	Etal Hill, north of Nightcaps
Malakovian stage	Gm	245.5	Malakoff Hill, near Ohai
Nelsonian stage	Gn	250.4	Nelson
Makarewan stage (see Permian Period, below)

Palaeozoic Era

Permian Period

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)	Named after
D'Urville epoch	YD		D'Urville Island
Makarewan stage	YDm	253.8	Makarewa River
Waiitian stage	YDw	?	Wai-iti River
Puruhauan stage	YDp	260.4	Puruhaua Stream, The Catlins
Aparima epoch	YA		Aparima River
Flettian stage	YAf	266.5	Flett's Hut, Takitimu Range
Barettian stage	YAr	273.0	Barrett's Hut, Takitimu Range
Mangapirian stage	YAm	280.0	Mangapiri Downs, east of Lake Monowai
Telfordian stage	YAt	283.0	Telford Burn, Takitimu Range
Pre-Telfordian epoch (not subdivided into stages)	Ypt	299.0

Carboniferous Period

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)
Carboniferous Period (not subdivided)	F	359.2

Devonian Period

Stages prior to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period use either international (Devonian/Silurian) or Australian (Ordovician/Cambrian) geologic stage names; very little New Zealand rock is known from these geologic periods.

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)
Upper Devonian epoch	JU
Famennian stage		374.5
Frasnian stage		385.3
Middle Devonian epoch	JM
Givetian stage		391.8
Eifelian stage		397.5
Lower Devonian epoch	JL
Emsian stage	Jem	407.0
Pragian stage	Jpr	411.2
Lochkovian stage	Jlo	417.2

Silurian Period

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)
Pridoli epoch (not subdivided into stages)	Epr	419.7
Ludlow epoch	Elu
Ludfordian stage		422.0
Gorstian stage		423.5
Wenlock epoch	Ewe
Homerian stage		426.2
Sheinwoodian stage		428.4
Llandovery epoch	Ela
Telychian stage		435.9
Aeronian stage		439.7
Rhuddanian stage		443.2

Ordovician Period

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)
Upper Ordovician epoch
Bolindian stage	Vbo	449.7
Eastonian stage	Vea	456.1
Gisbornian stage	Vgi	460.5
Middle Ordovician epoch
Darriwilian stage	Vda	468.1
Yapeenian stage	Vya	468.9
Castlemainian stage	Vca	472.0
Lower Ordovician epoch
Chewtonian stage	Vch	473.9
Bendigonian stage	Vbe	476.8
Lancefieldian stage	Vla	488.7
Pre-Lancefieldian stage	Vpl	490.0

Cambrian Period

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)
Datsonian stage	Xda	491.5
Payntonian stage	Xpa	494.0
Iverian stage	Xiv	498.5
Idamean stage	Xid	501.0
Mindyallan stage	Xmi	503.0
Boomerangian stage	Xbo	504.0
Undillan stage	Xun	505.0
Floran stage	Xfl	507.0
Ordian/Templetonian stage	Xor	513.0
Early Cambrian (not subdivided)	XL	542.0

Proterozoic and Archaean Aeons

Name	Abbreviation	Start date (Ma)
(Not subdivided)	Z

Footnotes to time scale

^ This stage is sometimes further divided into Mangaoran (lower) and Waikatoan (upper). These are named after Mangaora Inlet (an arm of Kawhia Harbour) and the Waikato River.
^ This stage is sometimes further divided into Kiriteherean (lower) and Marokopan (upper). These are named after the Marokopa River and the nearby Kiritehere Stream.
^ Until the late 1960s, the Flettian and Barettian stages were together known as the Braxtonian stage (see Waterhouse 1969). This was named for Braxton Burn, a stream near Mossburn.

gollark: However, the actual `reboot` command in the sandbox does *not* reboot it fully.

gollark: I can't get around that.

gollark: No, it does.

gollark: - PotatOS uses a single global process manager instance for nested potatOS instances. The ID is incremented by 1 each time a new process starts.- But each nested instance runs its own set of processes, because I never made them not do that and because without *some* of them things would break.- PotatOS has a "fast reboot" feature where, if you reboot in the sandbox, instead of *actually* rebooting the computer it just reinitializes the sandbox a bit.- For various reasons (resource exhaustion I think, mostly), if you nest it, stuff crashes a lot. This might end up causing some of the nested instances to reboot.- When they reboot, some of their processes many stay online because I never added sufficient protections against that because it never really came up.- The slowness is because each event goes to about 200 processes which then maybe do things.

gollark: WRONG!

References

Bishop, D.G., and Turnbull, I.M. (compilers) (1996). Geology of the Dunedin Area. Lower Hutt, NZ: Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences. ISBN 0-478-09521-X.
Hollis, C.J., Beu, A.G., Crampton, J.S., Crundwell, M.P., Morgans, H.E.G., Raine, J.I., Jones, C.M., Boyes, A.F. (2010). Calibration of the New Zealand Cretaceous - Cenozoic Timescale to GTS2004, GNS Science Report, 2010/43, 20p.
Waterhouse, J.B. (1969). "World correlations of New Zealand Permian stages," New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 12:4, pp. 713–737

External links

New Zealand geologic timescale wall chart (PDF format)

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