The Katiki Formation is a

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

(

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...

, or

Haumurian While also using the international geologic time scale, many nations–especially those with isolated and therefore non-standard prehistories–use their own systems of dividing geologic time into epochs and faunal stages. In New Zealand, these epo ...

in the regional stratigraphy) geologic

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

.Katiki Formation
in the

Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Pale ...

Plesiosaur The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared ...

remains of ''

Kaiwhekea katiki ''Kaiwhekea'' () is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian age) of what is now New Zealand. History of discovery The type species, ''Kaiwhekea katiki'', was first described by Arthur Cruickshank and Ewan Fordyc ...

'', named after the formation, are among the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s that have been recovered from the

deltaic A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more rare ...

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...

Description

The Katiki Formation was defined by McKay in 1887 and comprises about of gently north to northeast dipping and generally massive, dark grey, indurated, sandy

s. The Katiki Formation overlies more proximal marine sandstones of the Herbert Formation and, below that, non-marine quartzose sandy to pebbly coal measures of the Shag Point Group.Shag Point
in the

Fossil content

Belemnite Belemnitida (or the belemnite) is an extinct order of squid-like cephalopods that existed from the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous. Unlike squid, belemnites had an internal skeleton that made up the cone. The parts are, from the arms-most to ...

s ** '' Dimitobelus (Dimitocamax) hectori'' *

Reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s ** Mosasauridae indet. **

Elasmosauridae Elasmosauridae is an extinct family of plesiosaurs, often called elasmosaurs. They had the longest necks of the plesiosaurs and existed from the Hauterivian to the Maastrichtian stages of the Cretaceous, and represented one of the two groups of p ...

*** ''

''Cruickshank & Fordyce, 2002 *

Dinophyceae Dinophyceae is a class of dinoflagellates. Taxonomy * Class Dinophyceae Pascher 1914 eridinea Ehrenberg 1830 stat. nov. Wettstein; Blastodiniphyceae Fensome et al. 1993 orthog. emend.** Order Haplozoonales aplozooidea Poche 1913*** Family Ha ...

** Gonyaulacaceae *** '' Cribroperidinium edwardsii'' ** Peridiniaceae *** '' Chatangiella campbellensis'' *** '' Palaeocystodinium granulatum''

References

Bibliography

* {{cite LSA , last=Cruickshank , first=A.R.I. , first2=R.E. , last2=Fordyce , year=2002 , title=A new marine reptile (Sauropterygia) from New Zealand: further evidence for a Late Cretaceous Austral radiation of cryptoclidid plesiosaurs , journal=

Palaeontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

, volume=45 , pages=557–575 Geologic formations of New Zealand Cretaceous System of Oceania Campanian Stage Maastrichtian Stage Siltstone formations Deltaic deposits Paleontology in New Zealand

Description

Fossil content

See also

References

Bibliography