This is a list of the

units Unit may refer to: Arts and entertainment * UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' * Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation Music * Unit (album), ...

into which the rock succession of

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 ...

is formally divided. As new geological relationships have been discovered new names have been proposed and others are made obsolete. Not all these changes have been universally adopted. This table is based on the 2014 New Zealand Stratigraphic Lexicon (Litho2014). However, obsolete names that are still in use and names postdating the lexicon are included if it aids in understanding. Names for particular rock units have two parts, a proper name which is almost always a geographic location where the rock is found and a hierarchical rank (e.g. Waitematā

Group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

). This ranking system starts with individual 'beds' of rock which can be grouped into 'members', members are grouped into 'formations', formations into 'subgroups' then 'groups'. In New Zealand, groups are further combined into 'supergroups' or for basement rocks into

terrane In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust (geology), crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and Accretion (geology), accreted or "Suture (geology), sutured" to crust lying on another pla ...

s. Not all of these hierarchical layers are necessarily present within a particular rock succession. Many New Zealand rocks can also have names based on their major rock types, such as the Wooded Peak

Limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

or the Hawks Crag

Breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of ...

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Summary of New Zealand high order rock names

New Zealand stratigraphy has also informally been divided into two 'megasequences'. The Austral Superprovince ( Cambrian-

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

) includes all basement rocks and the Zealandia Megasequence (Cretaceous-

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

) refers to those, younger rocks, that cover them. The Austral Superprovince is divided into the Eastern and Western Province, which have seven and two

s respectively. The Zealandia Megasequence is divided into five supergroups, from oldest to youngest they are the Momotu, Haerenga, Waka, Māui and Pākihi supergroups.

Basement rocks (Austral Superprovince)

Cover sequence (Zealandia Megasequence)

References

External links

New Zealand Stratigraphic Lexicon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geology of New Zealand Stratigraphy Rock formations of Otago Rock formations of Canterbury, New Zealand

Summary of New Zealand high order rock names

Basement rocks (Austral Superprovince)

Cover sequence (Zealandia Megasequence)

See also

References

External links