AAPG Bulletin, V. 85, No. 8 (August 2001), P. 1469-1498.

Copyright ©2001. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

Quantitative biostratigraphy of the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand: A deterministic and probabilistic approach

Roger A. Cooper,¹ James S. Crampton,² J. Ian Raine,³ Felix M. Gradstein,⁴ Hugh E. G. Morgans,⁵ Peter M. Sadler,⁶ C. Percy Strong,⁷ David Waghorn,⁸ Graeme J. Wilson⁹

¹Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand; email: [email protected]
²Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand; email: [email protected]
³Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand; email: [email protected]
⁴Oslo University, Department of Geology, P.O. Box 1047 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway; email: [email protected]
⁵Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand; email: [email protected]
⁶Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California, 92521; email: [email protected]
⁷Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand; email: [email protected]
⁸Premier & Shell Pakistan B.V., Jang Building, Fazal-e-Haq Rd., Blue Area, Islamabad, Pakistan
⁹Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand; email: [email protected]

AUTHORS

Roger A. Cooper is interested in time-scale development methodology and the application of quantitative methods in stratigraphy. He is a project leader in the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (formerly, New Zealand Geological Survey). Other interests include the systematics, biostratigraphy, evolution, and ecology of graptolites; Ordovician correlation and time-scale development; and early Paleozoic terrane history and evolution in the southwest Pacific.

James Crampton leads the Geological Time and Environmental Change Programme at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences. His research is focussed primarily on the stratigraphy, molluscan biostratigraphy, and geological history of Cretaceous basins of eastern New Zealand. Other research interests include the use of quantitative techniques in time-scale development and the use of quantitative, biometric techniques to describe complex evolutionary changes in problematic fossil groups.

J. Ian Raine has been a palynologist-biostratigrapher at the New Zealand Geological Survey and its successor organization, the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, since 1974. He received his Ph.D. from Australian National University in 1976. His principal research interests are terrestrial palynology of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic of New Zealand and Antarctica and application of computer techniques in biostratigraphy and taxonomy. He has been closely associated with the New Zealand Fossil Record File, a primary database of fossil occurrence data.

Felix M. Gradstein (retired) is chairman of the International Commission of Stratigraphy (ICS), research fellow at the universities of London, Oslo, and Amsterdam, and industry liaison for the Ocean Drilling Project. He, and his long-term associate Frits Agterberg, developed the probabilistic method of biostratigraphy (RASC) to crack complex bug correlations in petroleum basins while working for the Geological Survey of Canada. The newest version of RASC was sponsored by Saga Petroleum.

Hugh Morgans is a micropaleontologist with the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences and specializes in foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Paleogene and Miocene. He is interested in the application of quantitative foraminiferal processing and analysis for paleoenvironment interpretation and, integrated with magnetostratigraphic and isotopic signatures, for refined biostratigraphy.

Pete Sadler develops the CONOP9 correlation software as part of his research program in quantitative stratigraphy and the completeness of the stratigraphic record at University of California Riverside, where he is a professor of geology. Pete received B.Sc. degree and Ph.D. from the University of Bristol, England. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Gottingen before moving to California.

Percy Strong received his B.S. degree from the College of Wooster (Ohio) in 1964 and his Ph.D. from University of Washington in 1969. From 1969 to 1975 he was assistant professor of geology at Mt. Union College (Alliance, Ohio). In 1975 he joined the New Zealand Geological Survey as a micropaleontologist and has continued in this position during the organization's evolution into the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences. His main research interests are Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene foraminiferal biostratigraphy and foraminiferal events at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary.

David Waghorn is chief geologist with Premier Exploration Pakistan Ltd. He received a Ph.D. in geology from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, in 1983. Since then he has worked as an exploration and development geologist in Australia, New Zealand, southeast Asia, and Pakistan. He is a member of AAPG, the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and the Society of Professional Well Log Analysts. He maintains an interest in calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, is a member of the International Nannoplankton Association (INA), and has worked on practical applications of nannofossil biostratigraphy to operational and development aspects of the petroleum industry.

Graeme J. Wilson gained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and his Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham, England. Since 1964 he has worked as a palynologist with the New Zealand Geological Survey and its successors, specializing in Mesozoic and Cenozoic dinoflagellates mainly from New Zealand, Antarctica, the southwest Pacific, Patagonia, and western Europe. He has also published on spores and pollen from late Paleozoic to Pleistocene sequences.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABSTRACT