Floating cockle shells (Austrovenus stutchburyi): their significance to paleoenvironmental assessments 

Hayward, B. W.; Stilwell, J. D. 

1995 

 

 

Article in journal 

The presence of shells of the estuarine and harbour-dwelling cockle, #Austrovenus stutchburyi# (Wood), in fossil assemblages may not always indicate a sheltered, slightly brackish paleoenvironment. Today, common cockle shells occur on exposed sandy beaches on the west coast of northern New Zealand, up to 20 or more kilometers from the mouth of the nearest harbour or estuary. Our recent observations of thousands of floating cockle shells in Kaipara Harbour, picked up off the beaches and tidal flats by the incoming tide during calm conditions, provides a mechanism for transporting numerous cockle shells out into the tidal channels or harbour entrance where swift tidal currents could carry them out to the exposed coast. (auth) 

 

paleoenvironment; estuarine dynamics; Biogeophysical; marine transport; shells; estuaries; bivalves; austrovenus stutchburyi; assemblages; northland; ecological distribution; nzms260q08; cockles; Kaipara harbour