Waipara Greensand
| Waipara Greensand | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Palaeocene, ~ Selandian-Thanetian | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Sub-units | Mount Ellen Member, Stormmont Member |
| Underlies | Ashley Mudstone |
| Overlies | Loburn Formation |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Sandstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 43°04′34″S 172°48′25″E / 43.076°S 172.807°E |
| Region | Canterbury |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Waipara River |
.png)  Waipara Greensand (New Zealand) | |
The Waipara Greensand is a geological rock unit found in Canterbury, New Zealand. It dates from just after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the Selandian and Thanetian, around 62–58 million years ago in the Palaeocene. It is well known for its fossils, particularly for containing the oldest penguins (Sphenisciformes) and also containing shark and fish fossils.
Geology
The Waipara Greensand is a fine to medium-grained, richly glauconitic quartzose sandstone. It crops out throughout North Canterbury. It has been interpreted as having been deposited in a shallow marine setting under conditions of very slow sedimentation. It is deepest in the Waipara River area, where it reaches a thickness of about 80 metres (260 ft), thinning to the south and north.[1]
The Waipara Greensand are Thanetian and Selandian in age (62 to 58 Mya). The top of the Waipara Greensand marks the Teurian–Waipawan New Zealand stage boundary, which is correlated internationally with the Paleocene-Eocene boundary.
Fossils
The Waipara Greensand is only sparsely fossiliferous, but there are some significant discoveries made from this rock unit. There have been at least at least 16 neoselachian sharks found, including Chlamydoselachus keyesi and Centroselachus goord,[2] as well as the enigmatic Waiparaconus, which is either a barnacle or a coelenterate,[3] the remains of the early-diverging penguins Archaeodyptes, Daniadyptes, Muriwaimanu, Sequiwaimanu, Waimanu, Waimanutaha, and Waiparadyptes,[4][5] the early tropicbird Clymenoptilon,[6] and rarely also fish bones and poorly preserved molluscs. Nanofossils include two key age‐diagnostic taxa, Chiasmolithus bidens and Hornbrookina teuriensis.[2]
The majority of shark specimens were recovered from loose weathered material that accumulates at the foot of steep banks along the Waipara River. Gypsum often encrusts the teeth, making identification difficult.
Birds
Color key
|
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
| Birds reported from the Waipara Greensand | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
| Archaeodyptes | A. waitahaorum | A partial skeleton including skull bones | An early penguin. | |||
| Clymenoptilon | C. novaezealandicum | A skull | An early tropicbird | |||
| Daniadyptes | D. primaevus | A right humerus and possibly a right tibiotarsus. | An early penguin | |||
| Muriwaimanu | M. tuatahi | An early penguin | ||||
| Protodontopteryx | P. ruthae | A partial skeleton including the skull, portions of the limb bones, some vertebrae, and a wing phalanx. | An early pseudotooth bird | |||
| Sequiwaimanu | S. rosieae | A wing bone | An early penguin | |||
| Waimanu | W. manneringi | A partial skeleton comprising almost complete right tibiotarsus, proximal half of right fibula, right tarsometatarsus, right pelvis, and synsacrum (with last thoracic vertebra attached to the synsacrum), and four caudal vertebrae. | An early penguin | |||
| Waimanutaha | W. kenlovei | A partial skeleton including the mandible and possibly two additional partial skeletons | An early penguin | |||
| Waiparadyptes | W. gracilitarsus | A partial skeleton including a partial skull and mandible, as well as a partial left humerus and tarsometatarsus. | An early penguin | |||
References
- ^ Browne, G.H. and Field, B.D. 1985. Lithostratigraphy of Late Cretaceous to Early Pleistocene rocks of northern Canterbury, New Zealand. New Zealand Geological Survey Record, 6, 1–63.
- ^ a b Mannering, A. A., and N. Hiller. 2008. An early Cenozoic neoselachianshark fauna from the southwest Pacific. Palaeontology 51:1341–1365.
- ^ Buckeridge, J. S. 1993. A re‐evaluation of the Gondwanan invertebrate Waiparaconus as a coelenterate. Records of the Western Australian Museum, 16, 221– 233.
- ^ Mayr, Gerald; De Pietri, Vanesa L.; Proffitt, James; Blokland, Jacob C.; Clarke, Julia A.; Love, Leigh; Mannering, Al A.; Crouch, Erica M.; Reid, Catherine; Scofield, R. Paul (12 August 2025). "Multiple exceptionally preserved fossils from the Paleocene Waipara Greensand inform the diversity of the oldest stem group Sphenisciformes and the formation of their diving adaptations". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 204 (4): zlaf080. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf080. ISSN 0024-4082.
- ^ Fordyce, R.E. and Jones, C.M. 1990. The history of penguins and new fossil penguin material from New Zealand. 419–446. In Davis, L.S. and Darby, J.T. (eds). Penguin biology III. Academic Press, San Diego, 467 pp.
- ^ Daly, Michael (3 September 2023). "Zealandia fossil find may turn historical record on its head". Stuff. Retrieved 3 September 2023.