Abstract
Recent revisions to the paleontologic dating and lithologic correlation of the late Cretaceous and Cenozoic sediments in many wells have improved the chronostratigraphic framework for the Taranaki Basin. When combined with detailed seismic mapping and results of a study of basement trends, refinements to the timing of major structural and sedimentary events in the basin's history can be made. A resultant series of paleogeographic maps is presented.
The Taranaki Basin has developed primarily within an extensional tectonic regime, with a compressional overprint occurring variously in places from early Miocene to Pliocene. An overall transgressive sedimentary cycle existed from the late Cretaceous to early Miocene. Thereafter a generally regressive trend has continued to the present day. Subsidence patterns were broadly similar across the basin until the late Miocene, whereupon tectonic controls on basin morphology and sedimentation became more diverse.
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