Fossil localities in Torlesse rocks of the North Island, New Zealand

Abstract

Data on 110 fossil localities in Torlesse rocks of the North Island of New Zealand are tabulated, and the distribution of localities shown on maps. Zones are fewer and less well defined than in the South Island. The Permian is particularly fossiliferous, but no Kaihikuan (Ladinian) fossils are known. Much of the Torlesse might be Late Jurassic except for anticlinal cores, possibly in part faulted, of Permian, Late Triassic, and Early Jurassic. Although tectonic mobility is demonstrated by the occurrence of derived fossils, the distribution of fossil localities, is, by itself, of limited value in paleoenvironmental, paleogeographic, and provenance interpretations.