The age of the wairakau andesitic breccia at whangaroa harbour, northland

Abstract The Wairakau Andesitic Breccia of Whangaroa has long been considered as Tertiary. Bell (1909, pp. 3–4) assigned a Miocene age, and Kear and Hay (1961) an upper Miocene age to the formation, the latter on the basis of a probable correlation of andesitic sediments containing carbonaceous fragments exposed at sea level opposite Waitapu Bay, in Whangaroa Harbour, with the Mangonui Lignite Beds (Southland Series) at Coopers Beach, some 12 miles to the west.