Fleming, C.A.; Kear, D. 1960 The Jurassic sequence at Kawhia Harbour, New Zealand (Kawhia sheet, N73). Wellington: Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. New Zealand Geological Survey bulletin 67 50 p.
Abstract: The history of stratigraphic subdivision and correlation of the type section of New Zealand Jurassic sediments at Kawhia is reviewed. The Middle and Upper Jurassic sediments, exposed in open folds of meridional trend, have been mapped in 16 formations classed in four groups, for which a new nomenclature is proposed. The formations are correlated across Kawhia Harbour to establish, for the first time, the stratigraphic relationship between the south-shore section and the well known ammonite beds near Puti Point. Provisional determinations of ammonites by the late Dr W.J. Arkell are included. The Rengarenga Group, of uncertain Middle Jurassic age above unnamed Liassic formations, includes two non-marine formations, Urawitiki Measures (1700 ft) and Wharetanu Measures (925 ft), separated by the marine Opapaka Sandstone (75 ft), which includes the faunas of the type Temaikan Stage. The Kirikiri Group (Lower to Middle Kimeridgian ) includes the following formations (in upward order): Oraka Sandstone (225 ft), Captain King's Shellbed (3 ft), Ohineruru Formation (1350 ft), Kiwi Sandstone (125 ft), Waikutakuta Siltstone (475 ft), Waikiekie Tuffaceous Sandstone (40 ft), and Kowhai Point Siltstone (2400 ft). The Lower-Middle Kimeridgian boundary falls within the Ohineruru Formation. The Ahuahu Group consists of a basal Takatahi Formation of coarse-grained sediments (1000 ft) followed by the Kinohaku Siltstone (2100 ft) with ammonites classed as Middle Kimeridgian. The overlying Owhiro Group comprises the Waiharakeke Conglomerate (900 ft) below the Puti Siltstone (2550 ft +) with ammonites of probably Lower Tithonian age. The Middle Kimeridgian-Lower Tithonian boundary falls within the Waiharakeke Conglomerate. Marwicks's New Zealand Jurassic stages are redefined in terms of the appearance of key fossils: Meleagrinella cf. echinata (Temaikan), Inoceramus galoi (Heterian), I. haasti (Ohauan), and Buchia plicata (Puaroan). The upward succession of dominant ammonite genera in the Kimeridgian-Tithonian of Kawhia is expressed by the following sequence of tentative zones: (1) Zone of Epicephalites (Oraka Sandstone), (2) Zone of Idoceras (Ohineruru Formation, lower part), (3) Zone of Kossmatia (Ohineruru Formation, upper part), (4) Zone of Paraboliceras (Kowhai Point Siltstone, Kinohaku Siltstone), and (5) Zone of Aulacosphinctoides brownei (Puti Siltstone). The stratigraphic succession supports Arkell's transfer, in the ''Treatise on invertebrate paleontology'' of the Spiti Shales genera Kossmatia, Paraboliceras, and Paraboliceratoides from the Tithonian-Neocomian family Berriasellidae to the Kimeridgian sub-family Ataxioceratinae, of the Perisphinctidae. (auth)
