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Evolution of the Tasman Sea Basin
250
Book Reviews/Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 122 (1996) 243-264
Paleolithic sequence with Neanderthals is as old in the Near East as in South Africa and Western Europe. But recent evidence, based especially on human fossils uncovered in the Mt. Carmel region, also makes it clear that hominids that are viewed as possible ancestors of modern Homo sapiens sapiens existed in the Near East contemporaneously with Neanderthals and at a time when Europe was still populated by Neanderthals. The earliest of these modern hominids derive from strata at Skhul and Qafzeh, dated at 120,000 and 90,000 yr B.P., respectively. These results have naturally led to reinterpretations of cave sequences and the cultural affiliation of human fossils with archaeological remains. Through most of this century the Mousterian culture was regarded as closely related with Neanderthals. But having established the great antiquity of the fossils from Skhul and Qafzeh the editors are led to the cautious conclusion, that "... we simply have no idea what kind of hominid produced the lithic assemblages uncovered in the upper section of the Mousterian sequence." I have touched briefly upon two subjects dealt with in this book. But as mentioned by the editors "... the workshop served as an introduction to, rather than as a means to, a solution of myriad research problems." The result has become an extremely useful and stimulating volume. In addition to several syntheses of interdisciplinary data and discussions, it provides the reader with a goldmine of information, including lists and tables of currently available thermoluminescence (TL), electron spin resonance (ESR), uranium/thorium ( U / T h ) and radiocarbon (14C) dates of relevance to the subject. Peder MORTENSEN (~.rhus)
Evolution of the Tasman Sea Basin by G.J. van der Lingen, K.M. Swanson and R.J. Muir (Editors). Balkema, Rotterdam, 1994, Hardcover, X1 +261 pp., Dfl. 169,60, ISBN: 90-5410-328-0 The Tasman Sea Basin can be defined broadly as the oceanic area and its margins, lying between the eastern seaboard of Australia and New Zealand. It is named after the Dutch seafarer Abel
Janzoon Tasman, who together with his men in 1642 were the first Europeans to discover New Zealand and Tasmania. As part of the celebrations to mark the 350th anniversary of these discoveries, an international geoscience conference was held (University of Canterbury, Christchurch, November 1992), the theme being the Evolution of the Tasman Sea Basin. Most of the papers presented at that meeting are contained in this volume. The papers cover a broad range of topics, which can be grouped into two main groups: papers dealing with the evolution of the crust, particularly the parts underlying the Lord Howe Rise and western New Zealand, and papers concerned with aspects of Cenozoic paleoceanography. Six papers contribute new information about the geological development of western New Zealand during the middle to late Cretaceous. M.G. Laird gives a synthesis of stratigraphic and structural evidence in South Island for three phases of extension (mid-late Albian, latest Albian-early Cenomanian, early Campanian-Paleocene). Two of these phases predate the initiation of seafloor spreading in the Tasman Sea ( ~ 82 Ma), and the third is coincident with it. R.J. Muir, J.D. Bradshaw, S.D. Weaver and T.R. Ireland present new chemical and chronological data from Cretaceous granites in New Zealand. They interpret these data as meaning that during the midCretaceous the tectonic environment in New Zealand changed abruptly from compression to extension, and constrain this as post-dating 109.6_+ 1.7 Ma, based on the crystallisation age of the Buckland Granite, which has a mylonitic fabric developed in association with metamorphic core complex formation. A.J. Tulloch, D.L. Kimbrough and T.E. Waight report a U - P b zircon age of 83_+5 Ma for the French Creek Granite in Westland. This is significant as this A-type granite has an age that overlaps with the oldest sea floor in the Tasman Sea and indicates that crustal melting was coincident with it. P.J. Oliver reports paleomagnetic results from the Triassic and Jurassic Murihiku Terrane in western North Island. He shows that the sedimentary rocks have a reset paleomagnetic pole acquired as a result of uplift at the time of onset of seafloor spreading
Book Reviews/Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 122 (1996)243~64
in the Tasman Sea. M.C. Wizevich describes the stratigraphy and sedimentology of latest Cretaceous to Paleocene (Maastrichtian-Ypresian) conglomerate-bearing deposits cropping out in an inverted previously extensional (Pakawau) basin in northwest South Island. This work highlights the fault control on sedimentation, and indicates that extension in continental crust continued coincident with spreading in the Tasman Sea. A.A. Bal discusses an early Paleocene unconformity in the Pakawau Basin, which he interprets as a sequence boundary, representing a change in sedimentation with the termination of Tasman Sea spreading. Three papers consider other aspects of the structure of the Tasman Sea Basin. In an abstract by J.B. Willcox, J.B. Colwell and P.A. Symonds comment is made on the character and evolution of rift structures beneath the Lord Howe Rise, Dampier Ridge and New Caledonia Basin. R. Wood outlines marine geophysical data and tectonic models for evolution of the Tasman Sea and its continental margins. F.L. Sutherland presents data about the age and distribution of hotspot trails and related mantle plumes in the Tasman and Coral Sea. The second half of the volume contains paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic studies based on core materials recovered from the Cenozoic sedimentary section within the Tasman Sea Basin. M.A. Ayress presents evidence from Ostracoda for nonsynchronous foundering of the Queensland Plateau, Lord Howe Rise and Challenger Plateau between the early Eocene and early or middle Miocene. P.S. Head and C.S. Nelson present a high-resolution oxygen isotope record for the past 6.4 million years from analysis of planktonic and benthonic foraminiferal species from D S D P Site 593. This is followed in a separate University of Waikato contribution (C.S. Nelson, C.H. Hendy, A.M. Cuthbertson) by the presentation of oxygen isotope evidence for climatic contrasts between Tasman Sea and Southwest Pacific Ocean during the late Quaternary, and their implications for paleoclimatic contrasts across New Zealand. S. Nees, J.I. Martinez, P. De Deckker and M. Ayress give oxygen isotope data for a core (E36-23) from the East Tasman Plateau, and
251
S. Nees describes benthonic foraminifera from the same core and outlines a 420,000 year record of intermediate and bottom water distribution and interaction. J.I. Martinez describes late Pleistocene carbonate dissolution patterns in the Tasman Sea and considers the origins of the dissolution-fragmentation signals in the planktonic foraminifera. P.P. Hesse puts the case for a major climatic event at 350 ky in the record of a core from the Tasman Sea, which is considered to manifest an important stage in the development of the m o d e m climate of Australia. J. Thiede, S. Nees and H. Schulz (abstract) consider atmospheric and oceanic circulation in the seabed of the Tasman and Coral Sea. K.M. Swanson and G.J. van der Lingen present as a new paleoenvironmental tool an ostrocodal dissolution signal in latest Quaternary sediments from the eastern Tasman Sea. In a paper somewhat out of character with the main theme of the volume, K. Lewis and L. Carter present their ideas on when and how Cook Strait, the passage between North and South Islands of New Zealand, formed. The papers contained in the volume make a useful contribution to our understanding of the evolution of the Tasman Sea Basin, and they are essential reading for those working on the basin; they ought to also have wider appeal, especially to paleoceanographers, as more is known about shifts in water-mass boundaries in the New ZealandTasmania region than for any other part of the Southern Hemisphere. The papers are of variable quality, however, in terms of the number of them that contain critical new information. The volume is very neatly produced - - there are few syntax errors and the figures and photographs have reproduced very well. I recommend the volume for institutional libraries and workers active in paleoceanographic studies especially. The volume, and Tasman Sea Conference that preceded it, is chiefly the result of the drive, enthusiasm and organisational ability of Gerrit van der Lingen and his co-editors (K.M. Swanson and R.J. Muir) who seized upon the opportunity (350th Anniversary celebrations of Abel Tasman's voyage) to advance a research area of particular interest to them in the interests of the wider scientific community. Well done. Peter J.J. K A M P (Hamilton)
Book Reviews/Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 122 (1996) 243-264
Paleolithic sequence with Neanderthals is as old in the Near East as in South Africa and Western Europe. But recent evidence, based especially on human fossils uncovered in the Mt. Carmel region, also makes it clear that hominids that are viewed as possible ancestors of modern Homo sapiens sapiens existed in the Near East contemporaneously with Neanderthals and at a time when Europe was still populated by Neanderthals. The earliest of these modern hominids derive from strata at Skhul and Qafzeh, dated at 120,000 and 90,000 yr B.P., respectively. These results have naturally led to reinterpretations of cave sequences and the cultural affiliation of human fossils with archaeological remains. Through most of this century the Mousterian culture was regarded as closely related with Neanderthals. But having established the great antiquity of the fossils from Skhul and Qafzeh the editors are led to the cautious conclusion, that "... we simply have no idea what kind of hominid produced the lithic assemblages uncovered in the upper section of the Mousterian sequence." I have touched briefly upon two subjects dealt with in this book. But as mentioned by the editors "... the workshop served as an introduction to, rather than as a means to, a solution of myriad research problems." The result has become an extremely useful and stimulating volume. In addition to several syntheses of interdisciplinary data and discussions, it provides the reader with a goldmine of information, including lists and tables of currently available thermoluminescence (TL), electron spin resonance (ESR), uranium/thorium ( U / T h ) and radiocarbon (14C) dates of relevance to the subject. Peder MORTENSEN (~.rhus)
Evolution of the Tasman Sea Basin by G.J. van der Lingen, K.M. Swanson and R.J. Muir (Editors). Balkema, Rotterdam, 1994, Hardcover, X1 +261 pp., Dfl. 169,60, ISBN: 90-5410-328-0 The Tasman Sea Basin can be defined broadly as the oceanic area and its margins, lying between the eastern seaboard of Australia and New Zealand. It is named after the Dutch seafarer Abel
Janzoon Tasman, who together with his men in 1642 were the first Europeans to discover New Zealand and Tasmania. As part of the celebrations to mark the 350th anniversary of these discoveries, an international geoscience conference was held (University of Canterbury, Christchurch, November 1992), the theme being the Evolution of the Tasman Sea Basin. Most of the papers presented at that meeting are contained in this volume. The papers cover a broad range of topics, which can be grouped into two main groups: papers dealing with the evolution of the crust, particularly the parts underlying the Lord Howe Rise and western New Zealand, and papers concerned with aspects of Cenozoic paleoceanography. Six papers contribute new information about the geological development of western New Zealand during the middle to late Cretaceous. M.G. Laird gives a synthesis of stratigraphic and structural evidence in South Island for three phases of extension (mid-late Albian, latest Albian-early Cenomanian, early Campanian-Paleocene). Two of these phases predate the initiation of seafloor spreading in the Tasman Sea ( ~ 82 Ma), and the third is coincident with it. R.J. Muir, J.D. Bradshaw, S.D. Weaver and T.R. Ireland present new chemical and chronological data from Cretaceous granites in New Zealand. They interpret these data as meaning that during the midCretaceous the tectonic environment in New Zealand changed abruptly from compression to extension, and constrain this as post-dating 109.6_+ 1.7 Ma, based on the crystallisation age of the Buckland Granite, which has a mylonitic fabric developed in association with metamorphic core complex formation. A.J. Tulloch, D.L. Kimbrough and T.E. Waight report a U - P b zircon age of 83_+5 Ma for the French Creek Granite in Westland. This is significant as this A-type granite has an age that overlaps with the oldest sea floor in the Tasman Sea and indicates that crustal melting was coincident with it. P.J. Oliver reports paleomagnetic results from the Triassic and Jurassic Murihiku Terrane in western North Island. He shows that the sedimentary rocks have a reset paleomagnetic pole acquired as a result of uplift at the time of onset of seafloor spreading
Book Reviews/Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 122 (1996)243~64
in the Tasman Sea. M.C. Wizevich describes the stratigraphy and sedimentology of latest Cretaceous to Paleocene (Maastrichtian-Ypresian) conglomerate-bearing deposits cropping out in an inverted previously extensional (Pakawau) basin in northwest South Island. This work highlights the fault control on sedimentation, and indicates that extension in continental crust continued coincident with spreading in the Tasman Sea. A.A. Bal discusses an early Paleocene unconformity in the Pakawau Basin, which he interprets as a sequence boundary, representing a change in sedimentation with the termination of Tasman Sea spreading. Three papers consider other aspects of the structure of the Tasman Sea Basin. In an abstract by J.B. Willcox, J.B. Colwell and P.A. Symonds comment is made on the character and evolution of rift structures beneath the Lord Howe Rise, Dampier Ridge and New Caledonia Basin. R. Wood outlines marine geophysical data and tectonic models for evolution of the Tasman Sea and its continental margins. F.L. Sutherland presents data about the age and distribution of hotspot trails and related mantle plumes in the Tasman and Coral Sea. The second half of the volume contains paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic studies based on core materials recovered from the Cenozoic sedimentary section within the Tasman Sea Basin. M.A. Ayress presents evidence from Ostracoda for nonsynchronous foundering of the Queensland Plateau, Lord Howe Rise and Challenger Plateau between the early Eocene and early or middle Miocene. P.S. Head and C.S. Nelson present a high-resolution oxygen isotope record for the past 6.4 million years from analysis of planktonic and benthonic foraminiferal species from D S D P Site 593. This is followed in a separate University of Waikato contribution (C.S. Nelson, C.H. Hendy, A.M. Cuthbertson) by the presentation of oxygen isotope evidence for climatic contrasts between Tasman Sea and Southwest Pacific Ocean during the late Quaternary, and their implications for paleoclimatic contrasts across New Zealand. S. Nees, J.I. Martinez, P. De Deckker and M. Ayress give oxygen isotope data for a core (E36-23) from the East Tasman Plateau, and
251
S. Nees describes benthonic foraminifera from the same core and outlines a 420,000 year record of intermediate and bottom water distribution and interaction. J.I. Martinez describes late Pleistocene carbonate dissolution patterns in the Tasman Sea and considers the origins of the dissolution-fragmentation signals in the planktonic foraminifera. P.P. Hesse puts the case for a major climatic event at 350 ky in the record of a core from the Tasman Sea, which is considered to manifest an important stage in the development of the m o d e m climate of Australia. J. Thiede, S. Nees and H. Schulz (abstract) consider atmospheric and oceanic circulation in the seabed of the Tasman and Coral Sea. K.M. Swanson and G.J. van der Lingen present as a new paleoenvironmental tool an ostrocodal dissolution signal in latest Quaternary sediments from the eastern Tasman Sea. In a paper somewhat out of character with the main theme of the volume, K. Lewis and L. Carter present their ideas on when and how Cook Strait, the passage between North and South Islands of New Zealand, formed. The papers contained in the volume make a useful contribution to our understanding of the evolution of the Tasman Sea Basin, and they are essential reading for those working on the basin; they ought to also have wider appeal, especially to paleoceanographers, as more is known about shifts in water-mass boundaries in the New ZealandTasmania region than for any other part of the Southern Hemisphere. The papers are of variable quality, however, in terms of the number of them that contain critical new information. The volume is very neatly produced - - there are few syntax errors and the figures and photographs have reproduced very well. I recommend the volume for institutional libraries and workers active in paleoceanographic studies especially. The volume, and Tasman Sea Conference that preceded it, is chiefly the result of the drive, enthusiasm and organisational ability of Gerrit van der Lingen and his co-editors (K.M. Swanson and R.J. Muir) who seized upon the opportunity (350th Anniversary celebrations of Abel Tasman's voyage) to advance a research area of particular interest to them in the interests of the wider scientific community. Well done. Peter J.J. K A M P (Hamilton)