title: Late Miocene-Early Pliocene Matemateaonga Formation in eastern Taranaki Peninsula: A new 1:50,000 geological map and stratigraphic framework

authors: Vonk, Adam J.

subjects: Taranaki Basin

abstract: In recent years the Matemateaonga Formation has become an additional exploration play in Taranaki Basin. Exploration interest has been stimulated by the success of Swift Energy Company in the Rimu/Kauri prospect (38719), located near south Taranaki Coast. At this location, sandstone lithofacies, commonly termed “Manutahi Sandstone” in the lower parts of the Matemateaonga Formation have been intersected by the Kauri-A2 and Kauri-A3 wells at depths of ~1100-1200 m and are yielding commercial quantities of oil.
As part of a FRST-funded sedimentary basins research programme, we have geologically mapped in detail Matemateaonga Formation within an 1800 km2 area of the eastern peninsula region (Fig. 1), incorporating license areas 38739, 38718, 38753, 38138, 38139, 38141, 38140, 38716, 38758, 38728 and 38760. Mapping at 1:50,000 scale has revealed an ~1100 m-thick succession of cyclothemic, unconformity bounded shelfal strata of Late Miocene-Early Pliocene (Late Kapitean to Early Opoitian) age (c.5.5-4.7 Ma). This succession formed as a result of the interplay between climatically-driven 6th-order (41 k.y.) eustatic sea-level changes, high rates of basin subsidence and a substantial southerly-derived sediment flux. Individual sequences or groups of sequences are the fundamental mapping entities. The mapping area sits astride the southward-plunging Whangamomona Anticline, which has deformed the Late Neogene succession, producing a regional dip on its western flank of 2 to 4 degrees to the southwest. Northeast-southwest trending normal faults are relatively common and offset Matemateaonga Formation strata with throws of 2-50 m.
This improved knowledge of Matemateaonga Formation stratigraphy enhances the understanding of the distribution and geometry of potential reservoir sandstone units and associated mudstone seal units in the region.

text: Late Miocene-Early Pliocene Matemateaonga Formation in eastern Taranaki Peninsula: A new 1:50,000 geological map and stratigraphic framework In recent years the Matemateaonga Formation has become an additional exploration play in Taranaki Basin. Exploration interest has been stimulated by the success of Swift Energy Company in the Rimu/Kauri prospect (38719), located near south Taranaki Coast. At this location, sandstone lithofacies, commonly termed “Manutahi Sandstone” in the lower parts of the Matemateaonga Formation have been intersected by the Kauri-A2 and Kauri-A3 wells at depths of ~1100-1200 m and are yielding commercial quantities of oil.
As part of a FRST-funded sedimentary basins research programme, we have geologically mapped in detail Matemateaonga Formation within an 1800 km2 area of the eastern peninsula region (Fig. 1), incorporating license areas 38739, 38718, 38753, 38138, 38139, 38141, 38140, 38716, 38758, 38728 and 38760. Mapping at 1:50,000 scale has revealed an ~1100 m-thick succession of cyclothemic, unconformity bounded shelfal strata of Late Miocene-Early Pliocene (Late Kapitean to Early Opoitian) age (c.5.5-4.7 Ma). This succession formed as a result of the interplay between climatically-driven 6th-order (41 k.y.) eustatic sea-level changes, high rates of basin subsidence and a substantial southerly-derived sediment flux. Individual sequences or groups of sequences are the fundamental mapping entities. The mapping area sits astride the southward-plunging Whangamomona Anticline, which has deformed the Late Neogene succession, producing a regional dip on its western flank of 2 to 4 degrees to the southwest. Northeast-southwest trending normal faults are relatively common and offset Matemateaonga Formation strata with throws of 2-50 m.
This improved knowledge of Matemateaonga Formation stratigraphy enhances the understanding of the distribution and geometry of potential reservoir sandstone units and associated mudstone seal units in the region.

year: 2004

title: Crossing the symbolic threshold: a critical review of Terrence Deacon's The Symbolic Species

authors: Lumsden, David

abstract: Terrence Deacon's views about the origin of language are based on a particular notion of a symbol. While the notion is derived from Peirce's semiotics, it diverges from that source and needs to be investigated on its own terms in order to evaluate the idea that the human species has crossed the symbolic threshold. Deacon's view is defended from the view that symbols in the animal world are widespread and from the extreme connectionist view that they are not even to be found in humans.  Deacon's treatment of symbols involves a form of holism, as a symbol needs to be part of a system of symbols. He also appears to take a realist view of symbols.  That combination of holism and realism makes the threshold a sharp threshold, which makes it hard to explain how the threshold was crossed.  This difficulty is overcome if we take a mild realist position towards symbols, in the style of Dennett. Mild realism allows intermediate stages in the crossing but does not undermine Deacon's claim that the threshold is difficult to cross or the claim that it needs to be crossed quickly.

text: Crossing the symbolic threshold: a critical review of Terrence Deacon's The Symbolic Species Terrence Deacon's views about the origin of language are based on a particular notion of a symbol. While the notion is derived from Peirce's semiotics, it diverges from that source and needs to be investigated on its own terms in order to evaluate the idea that the human species has crossed the symbolic threshold. Deacon's view is defended from the view that symbols in the animal world are widespread and from the extreme connectionist view that they are not even to be found in humans.  Deacon's treatment of symbols involves a form of holism, as a symbol needs to be part of a system of symbols. He also appears to take a realist view of symbols.  That combination of holism and realism makes the threshold a sharp threshold, which makes it hard to explain how the threshold was crossed.  This difficulty is overcome if we take a mild realist position towards symbols, in the style of Dennett. Mild realism allows intermediate stages in the crossing but does not undermine Deacon's claim that the threshold is difficult to cross or the claim that it needs to be crossed quickly.

year: 2002-06-01

title: Indigenous-washing and colonial amnesia: how New Zealand’s nation brand depoliticizes climate change

authors: Hellmann, Olli

abstract: New Zealand’s nation brand has drawn ever louder accusations of “greenwashing” the country’s image in recent years. Through a visual discourse analysis of Air New Zealand’s Tiaki & The Guardians safety briefing video, this article shows that brand managers have responded with a strategy of “Indigenous-washing,” appropriating the Māori worldview to deflect attention from intensive farming’s carbon footprint and other environmentally unfriendly activities. More broadly, this article makes an important contribution to the growing critical-cultural literature on nation branding by revealing how New Zealand’s latest marketing initiative contributes to the depoliticization of climate change. The “Tiaki” campaign not only positions New Zealand as an “untouched land,” but also closes the space for democratic debate about climate change by obscuring the role of colonialism in causing the planet’s ecological crisis and by silencing alternative socioecological futures proposed by Indigenous peoples.

text: Indigenous-washing and colonial amnesia: how New Zealand’s nation brand depoliticizes climate change New Zealand’s nation brand has drawn ever louder accusations of “greenwashing” the country’s image in recent years. Through a visual discourse analysis of Air New Zealand’s Tiaki & The Guardians safety briefing video, this article shows that brand managers have responded with a strategy of “Indigenous-washing,” appropriating the Māori worldview to deflect attention from intensive farming’s carbon footprint and other environmentally unfriendly activities. More broadly, this article makes an important contribution to the growing critical-cultural literature on nation branding by revealing how New Zealand’s latest marketing initiative contributes to the depoliticization of climate change. The “Tiaki” campaign not only positions New Zealand as an “untouched land,” but also closes the space for democratic debate about climate change by obscuring the role of colonialism in causing the planet’s ecological crisis and by silencing alternative socioecological futures proposed by Indigenous peoples.

year: 2023-07-27