Recent evolution of the Mangawhai Spit dunefield 

Enright, N. J.; Anderson, M. J. 

1988 

 

 

Article in journal 

Development of the Mangawhai Spit dunefield since about 800 years BP is reconstructed on the basis of palaeo-environmental evidence. A buried soil with abundant charcoal beneath the present high dune suggests the former existence of forest on a low hill. Radiocarbon ages of charcoal samples are consistent with destruction of this coastal vegetation around 800 years BP. Sites containing Kaharoa ash, assumed age #c.# 650-670 years BP, usually overlie undifferentiated dune sands, indicating that dunefield development had already begun at that time. A number of middens (shell refuse heaps) dated to #c.# 400 years BP are now found on isolated sandy pedestals near the coast. At the time of their origin it is assumed that there must have been a foredune closer to the sea than the nearest one now is. Net east to west movement of sands has resulted in a large deflation surface near the coast, and the development of a 50 m high dune burying the former low coastal hill and associated soil 

 

radiocarbon dating; charcoal; nzms262 02; nzms260r08; Biogeophysical; middens; mangawhai spit; paleosols; evolution; kaharoa lapilli; sand dunes