Broken River is a Hell of a place to get to. From Christchurch you need to head inland, driving along the road …
New Zealand plant fossils
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ForestsGeologyHistory/ArchaeologyNew Zealand plant fossilsUncategorized
New Zealand’s Doggerland
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleDo we have a submerged ‘Doggerland‘ in New Zealand? In 1950 a boat, the HMNZS ‘Lachlan’ dredged a sample of “lignite” from …
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New Zealand plant fossils
New Zealand’s first fossil horsetails in millions of years
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleWith the precious fossils laid out carefully on a sun-hat held in my hands, I took a confident stride from one boulder …
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New Zealand plant fossils
The Amazing Miocene Fossil Leaf Pack of Mata Creek, New Zealand
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleI was crouched in a long boat somewhere up a rainforest-swathed river in Kalimatan, Borneo, when I saw it – a ‘living’ …
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FireNew Zealand paleobotanyNew Zealand plant fossils
Miocene Rain and Fire Forests of Bannockburn
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleCanungra is the perfect place to stop for a snack on the drive up to O’Reilly’s/Lamington National Park in southeastern Queensland. On …
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New Zealand plant fossils
Miocene Swamp Forests of St Bathans, New Zealand
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleThe white sands and muds surrounding Blue and ‘Grey’ Lakes at St Bathans were laid down in a braided river (Manuherikia Group; …
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New Zealand paleobotanyNew Zealand plant fossils
New Zealand’s Rata and Pohutakawa – riders of the Miocene storms?
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleThere is a Maori legend than when one of their ancestral canoes (the Te Arawa) approached New Zealand after traveling from its …
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New Zealand paleobotanyNew Zealand plant fossils
Miocene Nothofagus in New Zealand’s Manuherikia Group
by Mike Poleby Mike PolePerhaps the most surprising thing about Nothofagus leaf fossils in New Zealand is – not finding them. Nothofagus is another name for the southern …
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New Zealand paleobotanyNew Zealand plant fossils
Interdistributary drifters – a Miocene bay in New Zealand
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleOne of the more evocative Miocene fossils you might pick up near Bannockburn, New Zealand, are she-oak ‘cones’ (see the featured image). …
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New Zealand paleobotanyNew Zealand plant fossils
Blue Lake, St Bathans – the most biodiverse Miocene fossil plant locality
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleThe biodiversity of Blue Lake, at St Bathans, New Zealand, is precisely zero. It is an artificial lake partly filling a hole …