A diverse Late Pliocene fossil fauna and its paleoenvironment at Māngere, Auckland, New Zealand

• Published in: New Zealand journal of geology and geophysics Vol. 67; no. 4; pp. 551 - 572
• Main Authors: Hayward, Bruce W., Stolberger, Thomas F., Collins, Nathan, Beu, Alan G., Blom, Wilma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 01.10.2024; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Aquatic habitats; Aquatic invertebrates; Fauna; Foraminifera; Fossils; Habitats; Mangere Shellbed; Marine animals; Marine molluscs; Mollusca; Mollusks; Ostracoda; Otahuhu Formation; Plant fossils; Pliocene; River valleys; Rocky shores; Sea level; Shellfish; Shores; Wastewater treatment; Wastewater treatment plants; Water temperature; New Zealand
• DOI: 10.1080/00288306.2023.2243234
• ISSN: 0028-8306

Excavations at Māngere Wastewater Treatment Plant, Auckland, in 2020 provided New Zealand's richest and most diverse fossil faunas of mid-Pliocene age (Waipipian Stage, 3.7-3.0 million years old). The vast excavated heap of sandy shell was extensively searched and sieved resulting in the recovery of 266 fossil taxa, (particularly rich in Mollusca including 77 Bivalvia, 105 Gastropoda, 32 Foraminifera, 13 Ostracoda, 11 Bryozoa). The fauna includes several undescribed taxa and additional warm-water Pliocene records for New Zealand. The fauna is most similar in composition and age to the fauna obtained from the Otahuhu Brewery well in the late 1940s. The fauna contains a mixture of taxa from many different shallow marine habitats, from intertidal and subtidal rocky shores and intertidal and shallow subtidal soft sediment flats to exposed and semi-exposed subtidal sandy habitats down to depths of 30-40 m. The shelly deposit is inferred to have accumulated in a current swept subtidal channel during one of the mid-Pliocene warm periods when sea level was high and had flooded an incised river valley that flowed from east to west across the Auckland region.