Silurian rocks and fossils at Hailes Knob, North-West Nelson, New Zealand

Abstract A small brachiopod fauna, including Conchidium sp., ?Isorthis sp., ?Dalejina sp., ?Amphistrophia from the Hailes Knob Quartzite near Upper Takaka is described and shown to be of Middle or Upper Silurian age (Wenlockian or Ludlovian)—the first New Zealand Silurian fossils. The fauna helps to fill an important gap between Upper Ordovician and Lower Devonian in New Zealand's older Paleozoic faunal sequence. The Hailes Knob Quartzite, 650 ft (200 m) thick, conformably overlies Arthur Marble (formerly Mount Arthur Marble, Upper Ordovician) and is confined to the core of a small north-trending syncline forming the crest of the Pikikiruna Range. Overlying beds are not preserved. The formation is composed of predominantly quartzitic sediments and becomes coarse-grained in its uppermost beds, to which the fossils are confined. The contact with Arthur Marble, and a section through the formation are well exposed and are described in detail. Previous opinions on the age of the Arthur Marble and on strata for...

[1]  R. Cooper,et al.  Silurian Fossils from New Zealand , 1970, Nature.

[2]  A. G. Link.  Age and correlations of the Siluro‐Devonian strata in the Yass Basin, New South Wales , 1970 .

[3]  G. M. Philip.  Silurian conodonts from the Dirk Hartog Formation, Western Australia , 1969 .

[4]  C. W. Harper,et al.  Silurian and lower Devonian salopinid brachiopods , 1969 .

[5]  A. Wright.  Ordovician Conodonts from New Zealand , 1968, Nature.

[6]  M. Johnston,et al.  Age of Wangapeka Formation and Mt Arthur Marble, Mount Owen, North-West Nelson , 1965 .

[7]  A. Ziegler.  Silurian Marine Communities and their Environmental Significance , 1965, Nature.

[8]  A. Boucot,et al.  Revision of the Rhipidomellidae (Brachiopoda) and the affinities of Mendacella and Dalejina , 1965 .

[9]  R. Cooper.  Lower Paleozoic rocks between Upper Takaka and Riwaka, North-West Nelson , 1965 .

[10]  C. Fleming,et al.  Geology of New Zealand , 1960 .

[11]  J. Shirley.  The Fauna of the Baton River Beds (Devonian), New Zealand , 1938, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London.

[12]  W. Berry,et al.  Correlation of the North American Silurian rocks , 1970 .

[13]  Gordon H. Packham,et al.  The geology of New South Wales , 1969 .

[14]  A. A. Day,et al.  I The general features of the geological provinces of New South Wales , 1969 .

[15]  B. Glenister,et al.  The stratigraphy of western Australia , 1958 .

[16]  R. A. Keble,et al.  Ordovician graptolites of north-west Nelson , 2022 .