Spores, pollens, and microplankton from New Zealand cretaceous strata, and contributions to Antarctic geology

Abstract

Plant microfossil preparations were made of samples from four marine Cretaceous sections which range from Aptian to Maestrichtian in age. In many samples, microfloras are sparse and poorly preserved due to unfavourable environment of deposition and metamorphism of the strata. Microplankton are usually the dominant, best preserved, and most easily recognisable constituents of the microflora assemblage. Most species studied are already known in the New Zealand and Australian Cretaceous. Thirty species of microplankton, one of them new, are described, and species of spores and pollens are listed. Although fossil numbers are limited, correlation of the Turonian of New Zealand with Australia is possible due to the overlapping of several Australian diagnostic species.