No abstract

Vitrinite reflectance measurements indicate a lignite rank for coal fragments collected from the coal measures, and suggest a maximum burial depth of c. 800 m. Six Te Kuiti Group samples examined for palynomorphs and foraminifers gave ages ranging from Runangan to early Whaingaroan and show a transition from a predominantly terrestrial late Eocene environment to a shallow marine setting in the early Oligocene. This result helps substantiate previous inferences about the continuity of Te Kuiti Group deposition between Northland and Waikato, and supports the suggestion that the southern limit to the Northland Allochthon lies north of Auckland.