Stratigraphy and palaeogeography of the Cretaceous Blue Spur Conglomerate, Otago, New Zealand

Abstract

The non-marine Blue Spur Conglomerate in southeast Otago hosts the largest gold paleoplacer in New Zealand, but its formal stratigraphic relationships have thus far not been clear. The name reflects the extensive formation of ferrous iron-bearing diagenetic clay. We present a reference section for the unit, which is in part late Haumurian in age (c. 81–66 Ma). The unit is defined as a formal Member of the nearby, but not contiguous, Late Cretaceous Taratu Formation, Onekakara Group, Haerenga Supergroup. The Blue Spur Conglomerate contains three principal clast types: proximal schist debris, quartz pebbles and recycled distal greywacke cobbles, whereas the wider Taratu Formation is dominated by quartz pebble conglomerate with subordinate lithic clasts. Rare clasts of silicified quartz pebble conglomerate (silcrete) in both units attest to the recycling of older mature quartz sediments. The Blue Spur Conglomerate formed locally at the base of active normal fault scarps that controlled a broad valley in which the regionally extensive Taratu Formation accumulated. Detrital gold in the Blue Spur Conglomerate had both proximal and distal sources, whereas the Taratu Formation elsewhere received only distal gold.