A Revised Palaeocene (Teurian) Dinoflagellate Cyst Zonation from Eastern New Zealand

Abstract

Organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) assemblages are documented from Palaeocene (New Zealand Teurian Stage) sediments in five sections from eastern New Zealand: Tawanui, Angora Road, and Toi Flat-1 core in the East Coast Basin, the mid-Waipara River in the Canterbury Basin, and ODP Site 1121 on the eastern margin of Campbell Plateau. Based on dinocyst results from these sections, along with published earliest Palaeocene records from the East Coast, Canterbury, and Great South basins, a revised Palaeocene dinocyst zonation is proposed. The interval zones are labelled as New Zealand Dinocyst Palaeocene (NZDP), and the eight zones, NZDP1–NZDP8, encompass the entire Palaeocene extending from 66.04 to 55.96 Ma. Correlation of the NZDP zones with the International and New Zealand time scales is provided, and is based primarily on correlation with calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy.