Million-year-old cave find in New Zealand

[alanw]

Scientists open a million-year-old time capsule beneath New Zealand

Deep inside a cave, scientists uncovered fossils from 16 species, including a newfound kākāpō ancestor that may have been able to fly. These remains reveal that New Zealand’s ecosystems were constantly disrupted by volcanic eruptions and rapid climate shifts. Long before humans, waves of...

www.sciencedaily.com

Deep inside a cave, scientists uncovered fossils from 16 species, including a newfound kākāpō ancestor that may have been able to fly. These remains reveal that New Zealand’s ecosystems were constantly disrupted by volcanic eruptions and rapid climate shifts. Long before humans, waves of extinction and replacement reshaped the islands’ wildlife. It’s a rare window into a missing chapter of natural history.

 

[langcliffe]

Interesting - the caves are a minimum of 1.55 million years old. A paper discussing the deposition of the volcanic deposits can be found here.

 

[Lankyman]

I wonder how much volcanic eruptions affected species on the South Island? As far as I'm aware all the volcanoes are on the North Island and parts of the South are a long way away from them.

 

[rm128]

I wonder how much volcanic eruptions affected species on the South Island? As far as I'm aware all the volcanoes are on the North Island and parts of the South are a long way away from them.

Banks Peninsula, next to Christchurch is certainly an extinct volcano

 

[Lankyman]

Banks Peninsula, next to Christchurch is certainly an extinct volcano

Yes, I believe so but quite a lot older than the active/dormant North Island ones. The two islands have always seemed (to me as a non-geologist) to be very different landscapes.

 

[martinr]

...The two islands have always seemed (to me as a non-geologist) to be very different landscapes.

AI: The North and South Islands are not the same geological age.
While they share similar basement rocks formed hundreds of millions of years ago, they have distinct, differing ages regarding their uplift, surface, and volcanic history. The South Island contains much older exposed rocks, while the North Island is generally younger and dominated by active volcanism

 

[Lankyman]

AI: The North and South Islands are not the same geological age.
While they share similar basement rocks formed hundreds of millions of years ago, they have distinct, differing ages regarding their uplift, surface, and volcanic history. The South Island contains much older exposed rocks, while the North Island is generally younger and dominated by active volcanism

That's pretty much how it seems to me - even without much geological knowledge you can tell the islands are very different. The only animal I know of that shows some variation from one island to the other is their 'robin' (there are North and South varieties). The volcanoes reminded me of the slag heaps I used to play on as a kid near Wigan.