PAGES New Zealand

University of Auckland

Most PAGES type activity is concentrated in the School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Science. The following are good starting points for web searches through the Auckland sites (http://www.sges.auckland.ac.nz) and (http://www.geology.auckland.ac.nz).

The School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Science runs an active programme in paleoclimatology, tephrochronology, environmental geochemistry and micropaleontology (esp. pollen, diatom and foraminifera studies), coastal evolution and hazards, and glacial geomorphology. Members of the school are principal investigators in several major funded paleoclimate and Quaternary hazards programs, including:

(1) ‘Are rapid paleoclimatic events captured in Auckland maar crater muds?’. This project involves using novel multi-proxy approaches to reconstructing climate change spanning the last 50,000 years from Auckland maar crater lake sediment sequences. Contact Dr Paul Augustinus (p.augustinus@auckland.ac.nz) for further details;

(2) ‘Modelling Paleoclimate’. This project involves high-resolution reconstruction of past climate change and variability in the New Zealand region using high resolution speleothem, tree-ring and lake sediment records as contexts for future climatic change. Contact Professor Paul Williams (p.williams@auckland.ac.nz) for further information.

(3) ‘Geological hazards and society: volcanic hazards objective’. This project involves collection of sediment cores from a range of Auckland maar lake and chemical fingerprinting and dating of tephra units contained therein. The department operates an electron microprobe for chemical finger printing of tephra for tephrocronology. Contact Drs Phil Shane (pa.shane@auckland.ac.nz) or Jan Lindsay (j.lindsay@auckland.ac.nz) for further information.

The School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Science also has an active tectonics and volcanology programme focusing on the Quaternary tectonic and volcanic evolution of north-central New Zealand. Contact Drs Julie Rowland (j.rowland@auckland.ac.nz) and Colin Wilson (cjn.wilson@auckland.ac.nz for further details.

The School has a Tree-Ring Laboratory (http://www.sges.auckland.ac.nz/sges_research/treeringlab/index.htm) and works primarily with kauri ( Agathis australis ). Kauri is a large and long-lived conifer. Its clear rings, longevity, use as a building material and preservation in swamps make it an ideal species for development of long chronologies, palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and archaeology. Tree-ring analysis of kauri is being undertaken for two current research projects:

• Reconstructing ENSO history from kauri tree-rings
• Past-climate change, variability and extremes in New Zealand.

The research involves constructing and interpreting multi-century tree-ring time series. The time series have annual resolution and, in the case of trees growing in the last millennium, are often calendrically dated (makes the time series valuable for dating purposes). We also work with sub-fossil wood preserved in swamps (often thousands to tens of thousands of years old), and have recently had success working with wood from buildings. Contact Dr Anthony Fowler (a.fowler@auckland.ac.nz) for further information.