WThis is a list of the units into which the rock succession of New Zealand 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.
WThe Conway Formation is a Campanian to Danian geologic formation in the South Island of New Zealand and therefore crosses the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. Plesiosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from its strata. The Conway Formation is part of the Eyre Group and Haerenga Supergroup.
WFoulden Maar, a fossil site near Middlemarch in Otago, New Zealand, formed in a volcanic eruption 23 million years ago. The resulting crater lake filled with diatomite, composed of layers of silica-shelled algae (diatoms) and exceptional fossils of plants, fishes, spiders and insects from the surrounding sub-tropical Miocene forest. As the only known maar of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, it is one of New Zealand's pre-eminent fossil sites. A 2018 proposal to mine Foulden Maar for livestock-food additive has attracted significant public opposition.
WThe Haast Schist which contains both the Alpine and Otago Schist is a metamorphic unit in the South Island of New Zealand. It extends from Central Otago, along the eastern side of the Alpine Fault to Cook Strait. There are also isolated outcrops of the Haast Schist within the central North Island. The schists were named after Haast Pass on the West Coast. The Haast Schist can be divided geographically from north to south into the Kaimanawa, Terawhiti, Marlborough, Alpine, Otago and Chatham schist.
WThe Katiki Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the South Island of New Zealand. Plesiosaur remains of Kaiwhekea katiki, named after the formation, are among the fossils that have been recovered from the deltaic siltstones.
WThe Kokoamu Greensand is a geological formation found in New Zealand. It is a fossil-bearing, late Oligocene, greensand rock unit of the eastern South Island, especially the Waitaki District of North Otago and the southern Canterbury region. The formation was named by geologist Maxwell Gage in the 1950s. In North Otago it underlies the thicker and harder Otekaike Limestone. The formation gets its green colour from the mineral glauconite which forms slowly on the ocean floor.
WThe Manuherikia Group is a fluvial-lacustrine sedimentary fill in the Central Otago region of New Zealand, at the site of the prehistoric Lake Manuherikia. The area consists of a valley and ridge topography, with a series of schist-greywacke mountains at roughly ninety degrees to each other. The Manuherika Group occurs in the current basins, and occasionally on the mountains themselves.
WThe Southland Syncline is a major geological structure located in the Southland Region of New Zealand's South Island. The syncline folds the Mesozoic greywackes of the Murihiku Terrane. The northern limb of the fold is steep to overturned, while the southern limb dips shallowly to the northeast. The axial plan dips to the northeast and the axis plunges to the southeast.
WThe Tahora Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation that outcrops in northeastern New Zealand near Gisborne. It is Haumurian in age according to the New Zealand geologic time scale. It forms part of the Upper Cretaceous to Teurian (Danian) Tinui Group. It unconformably overlies the Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Urewera Group or the Upper Cretaceous Matawai Group. It is conformably overlain by the Haumurian to Teurian Whangai Formation. It consist of three members, the Maungataniwha Sandstone Member, the Mutuera Member and the Houpapa Member. It is named for Tahora Station, south of Matawai in the Gisborne Region. The aptly named Maungataniwha Sandstone Member is known for its rich reptile fossil remains, first investigated by amateur palaeontologist Joan Wiffen.
WThe Tupuangi Formation is a geological formation in New Zealand, only exposed on Pitt Island in the Chatham Islands. It is the oldest exposed sedimentary unit within the archipelago. It was deposited in terrestrial deltaic to paralic conditions during the Cenomanian to Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous. During this time period the Chatham Islands were attached to Antarctica within the Antarctic Circle, at approximately 70° to 80° south. The lithology consists of a basal conglomerate, which grades into sandstone and carbonaceous siltstone in the upper part of the formation. The formation is notable for its fossil content, including many varieties of plant, including abundant conifers, including members of Araucariaceae, Podocarpaceae, Cupressaceae, Cheirolepidiaceae, as well as Ginkgo and Ginkgoites. Other flora includes mosses, ferns, liverworts and lycopodians. Compression fossils of insects have been found including members of Carabidae and Buprestidae, and acritarch Introvertocystis. Amber is also known from the deposit associated with the conifer Protodammara reimatamoriori, a member of Cupressaceae.
WThe Waitemata Group is an Early Miocene geologic group that is exposed in and around the Auckland Region of New Zealand, between the Whangarei Harbour in the North and the Raglan Harbour in the South. The Group is predominantly composed of deep water sandstone and mudstone (flysch). The sandstone dominated units form the cliffs around the Waitemata Harbour and rare more resistant conglomerates underlie some of Auckland's prominent ridges.