Two mesozoic faunas from torlesse melange terrane, (ruahine range), New Zealand, and new evidence for oretian correlation

Abstract

Two new in situ fossil faunas are described from a melange terrane within Torlesse rocks in the southern Ruahine Range, North Island, New Zealand. T23/f7530 is an isolated, allochthonous limestone block containing foraminifera, brachiopods, gastropods, bivalves, ammonoid fragments, ostracods, conodonts, crinoids, echinoids, and fish remains. The bivalves include Halobia lilliei Marwick of Oretian age (Late Triassic; Late Karnian-Early Norian). Locality T23/f3 is a massive argillite, probably of autochthonous origin, containing Retroceramus (Retroceramus) haasti (Hochstetter) of Ohauan age (Late Jurassic; Late Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian). Stratigraphic and structural relationships between the two localities are uncertain. The conodont fauna from T23/f7530 provide a possible new line of correlation between New Zealand Triassic sequences and the world standard for Late Karnian-Early Norian time. © Crown copyright 1987.