Origin of New Zealand

Gondwana starts to form as part of Pangaea

600 BCE

600 MYA
Gondwana is created by volcanism. The area that will become New Zealand is a only a sea basin between what will become Eastern Australia and Western Antarctica.

Cambrian - First organisms with shells

550 BCE

590 - 505 MYA
During the Cambrian period, Organisms with shells began to appear with Trilobites being dominant towards the end of the period.

Ordovician - First fish appears

475 BCE

505 - 438 MYA
During the Ordovician period, the first primitive fish began to appear.

Silurian - First land plant fossils

425 BCE

438 - 408 MYA
During the Silurian period, the first land plant fossils appeared, were probably relatives of the mosses, liverworts and hornworts of today.

Devonian - The first Amphibians appeared

375 BCE

408 - 360 MYA
During the Devonian period, the first amphibians/land living invertibrates such as lizard and frog like organisms which are possibly ancestral to todays amphibians.

Misisissippian - The appearence of large primitive trees

350 BCE

360 - 320 MYA
During the Mississippian period, vast numbers of large primitive trees grew. It is also 1 of 2 sub-periods to the Carboniferous period.

End of an ice age

300 BCE

350 - 200 MYA
Eroded sediments washed by melt water settle into the sea basin.

Coal forests, insects and reptiles

300 BCE

320 - 286 MYA
During the Pennsylvanian period, Great coal forests, an abundence in insects and the first reptiles appeared.
Its is also 1 of 2 parts sub-periods to the Carboniferous period.

Permian - The extinction of multiple species

275 BCE

286 - 248 MYA
During the Permian period, organisms such as Trilobites and many other marine animals went extinct.
The mass extinction killed off more than 96 percent of marine species and 70 percent of terrestrial life.

Triassic - The First dinosaurs have appeared

225 BCE

248 - 213 MYA
During the Triassic period, the first dinosaurs appeared, one know as the Batrachopus. This was shortly after the extinction during the Permian period.

Pangaea starts to break up

175 BCE

Jurassic - The appearence of many more creatures

175 BCE

213 - 144 MYA
During the Jurassic period, the first birds and mammals appeared. Along with the abundance many dinosuars, ranging from ground dinosuars to the ones that fly.

New Zealand appears above the sea

150 BCE

200 - 150 MYA New Zealand appears above the sea due to upthrust of the plate and volcanism..

Gondwana starts to break up

130 BCE

150 - 130 MYA Gondwana starts to breakup due to sea floor up-thrust and volcanism.

Cretaceous - The extinction of many species and the first flowers

100 BCE

144 - 66 MYA
During the Cretaceous period, one of the biggest mass extinctions occured.
Along with the first flowering plants and the climax of the dinosaurs.

Warmer climate in New Zealand

100 BCE

Warmer climate in New Zealand. There is evidence that The ancestors of kauri, tuatara, ferns, flowering plants, deciduous trees, conifers, spiders, snails and frogs were present. there was no evidence that mammals got to New Zealand. If they did they would have been a small population who have since died out.

Tertiary - Mammals began to develop

50 BCE

66 - 2 MYA
During the Tertiary period, the mammals began to develop. Examples of these mammals were marsupial and placental, such as primates, bats and rodents.
Some of these mammals became dominant species.

Volcanism in Auckland

25 BCE

25 - 26 MYA volcanism​ created what will be Auckland in West n of north = land uplift

NZ is one land mass

10 BCE

New Zealand I one landmass, consisting of dense forest. subduction starts on the west coast of the pacific plate. Uplift of Tararua's + Ruahine 18 km up.

Inter-glacial Cycles

5 BCE

5-2 MYA
3 MYs of repeated cycles of glacial - inter-glacial cycles.

S.ALPS began to form

5 BCE

the southern alps began to form causing uplift, creating different environments. such as the west coast being wet and the east coast being dry and warm.

Volcanic Plateau

3 BCE

3 MYA Volcanic Plateau start to erupt

Cook Strait Forms

2 BCE

2 MYA
Sea level rose
North and South Island separated by the Cook Strait

Quaternary - The appearance of hominids

1 BCE

2 - 0.011 MYA
During the Quaternary period, the first hominids began to develop.
Homosapiens and giant mammals began to inhabit the earth, either carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous, which all fought over dominance.

Tararua and Manawatu Gorge

1 CE

1 MYA
Sea level at Tararua (Woodville) and Manawatu gorge was a strait.
Climate cooled. Sea level decreasing. Glaciers formed. Tararua rise due to uplift.

Climate warmed

2

500,000 YA
Sea level increased to foothills.
Sand and sandstone formed Levin/ Shannon Plateau.

Temperatures and sea level starts to drop

3

200,000 YA
Horowhenua is a shallow sea with beaches just below the foothills. New beaches and coastal terraces (eg, Koputaroa) are formed as the sea level drops

Last ice age begins

4

20,000 YA
With the beginning of the last ice age, erosion makes Otaki gravel terraces and Waikanae

End of the last ice age

5

10,000 - 9,000 YA
As the last ice age ends, sea levels rise and flood Zealandia to form the current coastline of New Zealand

Taupo Eruption

6

1800 YA
The eruption of Taupo causes rapid land build up and the formation of the dune lakes

Development of New Zealand continues

2017

Land continues to build up along the coast of New Zealand, the beach moving westward. Manawatu river continues to be silted up and meanders more as water is removed from underwater reservoirs. Uplift due to subduction of the Tararuas continues.